2G probe: Tata ‘candid’ at PAC grilling; Niira Radia ‘evasive’

Continuing its investigation into the 2G scam, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee yesterday separately questioned both Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, whose public relations firm Vaishnavi Communications was used by the Tatas.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who heads the PAC, later told the media that while Tata was ''candid and straightforward'', Radia was ''evasive'' in her replies. "She did not give straight answers and was in no mood to place facts before the committee... At times she said can't say if this is the correct version, can't remember, etc," he said.

Tata appeared before the committee for three hours in the afternoon, while Radia gave her deposition for two hours in the morning after waiting for almost an hour before the PAC called her in.

The two were asked about the veracity of the leaked tapes of Radia's tapped telephone conversations; Tata's letter to DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi praising former telecom minister A Raja; and the role of Radia in the affairs of the group and the telecom sector.

''Ratan Tata spoke frankly. He admitted that it was his voice on some of the tapes related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam. When he did not have some information that was asked, he promised to convey it to the committee within the next few days. And, finally, he also admitted to having written a letter to Karunanidhi, which Radia carried to him.''

Tata told PAC members he had been a bit apprehensive of what might happen at the questioning, but found it had been conducted ''professionally.'' ''We had a lot of questions and many things to discuss,'' Joshi said, asked about the reason for Tata's three-hour-long appearance.