NEW DELHI: A special court today concluded the recording of statements of prosecution witnesses in the 2G scam-related money laundering case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others are facing trial.
If convicted, Raja and others will face a maximum sentence of upto seven years.
Special public prosecutor N K Matta told the court that Enforcement Directorate (ED) does not wish to examine further witnesses in the case after recording of statement of ED's Deputy Director Rajeshwar Singh concluded today.
"I close prosecution evidence," Matta told Special CBI Judge O P Saini who is exclusively dealing with all the 2G scam related cases.
The court has fixed the case for March 16 for recording of statements of the 19 accused who were chargesheeted by ED.
The recording of statements of prosecution witnesses had commenced on November 17 last year and the ED has examined 25 witnesses in the case. The recording of statements runs into approximately 600 pages.
Raja, Kanimozhi, DMK leader M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and 14 others, including nine firms, are facing trial in the case in which ED had on April 25 last year filed a charge sheet against them for alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The other individual accused in the money laundering case are Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and P Amirtham. All of them are out on bail.
The court had also framed charges against accused firms STPL, Kusegaon Realty Pvt Ltd (formerly Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd), Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd (formerly known as Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd), Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, Dynamix Realty, DB Realty Ltd, Eversmile Construction Company Pvt Ltd, Conwood Constructions and Developers (P) Ltd and Nihar Constructions Pvt Ltd.
This is the second case in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which Raja, Kanimozhi and others are facing trial for their alleged involvement in the scam.
In the first case probed by CBI, Raja, Kanimozhi, Shahid Balwa, Goenka, Asif Balwa, Rajiv Agarwal, Morani and Sharad Kumar, along with others, are facing trial for criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, forgery, cheating and other offences punishable under the provisions of IPC and under Prevention of Corruption Act.
ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that all the accused were involved in the Rs 200-crore money transaction which was not "bonafide" and "genuine" and that it was a "bribe for grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies" by Raja.
The court had on October 31, 2014 framed charges against the 19 accused saying that Raja, allegedly in connivance with Kanimozhi, Dayalu Ammal and other co-accused, was involved in "parking" of illegal gratification of Rs 200 crore in Kalaignar TV.