Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata and Niira Radia, head of the conglomerate's public relations agency, faced questions about their relationship with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and a number of related issues from parliament's Public Accounts Committee which is probing the 2G spectrum allotment scam.
They appeared before the committee separately and were asked about the veracity of the leaked tapes of secretly recorded telephone conversations; Tata's letter to DMK boss M Karunanidhi praising former telecom minister A Raja and the role of Radia in the affairs of the group and the telecom sector.
Tata responded that the letter was not an exercise in promoting Raja, but said his company had problems with Raja's predecessor in the telecom ministry, DMK's Dayanidhi Maran.
Tata said it was not a personal rivalry, but Maran was blatantly favouring the GSM operators. "But I have always maintained the highest ethical standards," he told the committee.
The committee also raised the issue of a letter written by Tata in 2001 to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee , requesting that certain policy matters be referred to a group of ministers. It asked Tata if he had written to the current PM about his grievances. Tata replied in the negative, but said he had a long list of grievances.
Samajwadi Party member Reoti Raman Singh brought up the allegation that Tata group company Voltas had 'transferred' land in Chennai to the DMK.
Tata clarified his group did not own the land under question and were tenants there, and the question of transferring the ownership of a leased property does not arise. Tata's public exchange of charges with telecom entrepreneur and MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar also came up for discussion.
A joint parliamentary committee will separately probe the scam that is estimated to have cost the exchequer tens of thousands of crores. Tapes Doctored, says Radia Radia told the committee the tapes were doctored, but the parts she had listened to at the CBI offices were genuine, people with knowl-edge of her deposition said.
She could not give a conclusive reply when asked which were those parts, these people said.
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