New Delhi: A special court on Monday deferred for tomorrow the recording of statements of defence witnesses in a 2G scam related money laundering case in which ex-Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others are facing trial.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini deferred the proceeding after the court was informed by defence counsel that the witness who was scheduled to appear today for deposition could not come.
Meanwhile, the counsel representing the accused said that another defence witness, a doctor, is likely to appear before the court tomorrow and would testify regarding the health condition of DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, an accused in the case.
On March 27, the court had concluded recording of statements of accused in the case and directed all the 19 accused to file the list of defence witnesses, if any, by March 31.
Raja, Kanimozhi, 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.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 25, last year had filed a chargesheet against the 19 accused for the alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The other 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 Mystical Construction (P) Ltd (earlier called M/s Nihar Constructions (P) Ltd).
If convicted of the charges against them, Raja and others will face a maximum sentence of up to seven years.
The recording of statements of prosecution witnesses in the case had commenced on November 17 last year and ED has examined 25 witnesses. The recording of their statements runs into approximately 600 pages.
In the money-laundering case, the court had on October 31 last year framed charges against the 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.
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.
