Tatas refute allegations of Rs20-crore grant to TN hospital

The Tata group has refuted media reports of alleged payments made by the group to the Tamil Nadu government for building a hospital in Perambalur.

Tata Sons issued a statement in response to an NDTV report about Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, one of the main beneficiaries in the 2G spectrum scam, targeting Ratan Tata and the CBI for going soft on the Tata Group.

In the report, Balwa's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal is said to have argued in the court that the CBI was biased towards Tata and has, therefore, targeted telecom companies selectively.

Aggarwal is also reported to have produced several letters between Tata group chief Ratan Tata and former telecom minister A Raja.

According to the report, in one such letter dated September 10, 2009, Raja wrote to Tata: "It was requested that the cheque of the of the entire amount of Rs20 crore may be made 'as a special case' as an upfront payment in the name of the hospital authority...I request you to please look into the matter personally to see that the entire amount of Rs20 crore is released to the Government of Tamil Nadu at the earliest..."

Ratan Tata replied on 15 September 2009: "I wish to inform you that we have never made a grant of this size to any external recipient in the Trust's history...The grant to the Perambalur Hospital was given as a very special case, after considerable deliberation amongst the Trustees, which include independent persons," the NDTV report said.