Home Secretary Pillai says ‘I have not seen Niira Radia’s tapes’

NEW DELHI - Union Home Secretary G K Pillai on Saturday clarified that neither he nor the Ministry of Home Affairs had any access or have any access to the tapes containing the private conversation of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with others, and added that he has not leaked them at the behest of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

“My attention has been drawn to reports that have appeared in ‘OPEN Magazine’ and in ‘India Today’. I wish to clarify that neither I nor the Ministry of Home Affairs had access or have any access to any of the tapes concerning the interception of the telephones of Ms. Niira Radia,” said Pillai in his clarification on the issue of interception of the telephones of Niira Radia.

G K Pillai further said that his interview to the Wall Street Journal has been misunderstood and quoted out of context.

“I had only stated that the interception of the telephone calls have been authorized by the Home Ministry on account of allegations concerning tax evasion/hawala, and that no tapes concerning tax evasion/hawala had appeared in the press,” said Pillai.

“These were the subject matter of investigation by the CBDT and if these are substantiated, would be only disclosed later when the charge-sheets are filed by the concerned agencies. Since I have neither heard nor seen the tapes, the allegations that I am leaking these tapes, at the behest of the Union Home Minister, is totally unfounded and false,” he added.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier questioned Radia for her alleged role in the scam.

Radia was summoned after the tapes exposed how she had allegedly lobbied with senior journalists and telecom companies and asked them to pay their part in the 2Gscam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in an affidavit said to the Supreme Court that the role of Radia would be examined in the 2G-spectrum allocation case in which irregularities were of “enormous magnitude”"” having international ramifications. (ANI)