New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate's probe into the 'money trial' in the 2G spectrum scam will form a crucial part of the efforts to untangle the myriad financial dealings leading up to the allocation of bandwidth and developments there after, official sources said on Sunday.
They said the CBI roped in the Directorate to jointly probe the scam as various financial transactions and hawala dealings have come to light, which would need to be worked upon by a specialised agency.
The CBI sought the services of the Directorate on December 15 when about 34 locations including the premises of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia were raided.
The ED is now probing foreign funding and transaction records of all the firms raided by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore scam for possible money laundering and foreign exchange law violations.
The ED is already probing the role over two hawala dealers suspected to have been involved in the certain illegal financial dealings connected with the spectrum allocation.
"The ED has been roped in to help in the probe following the searching of 34 premises. They (ED) will look specifically into possible money laundering angle," a senior CBI official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
The Directorate had registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the alleged irregularities in the case.
It is already probing certain entities, including subsidiaries of some telecom firms that bagged the spectrum, in over 10 countries. The Directorate is currently working towards collecting all relevant information before its sends Letters Rogatory to those countries.
The Directorate, which has questioned certain telecom operators, have already shared the details with the CBI. Sources said some of the information gathered by the ED in connection with the financial dealings also cropped up during the questioning of former telecom minister A Raja on Saturday.
The Directorate had recently questioned representatives of certain telecom firms after analysing thousands of pages of documents submitted by them during their initial interactions.
The documents submitted by the firms pertained to their income tax returns, shareholding patterns, subsidiaries and funding routes, the sources said.
The sources said the fresh questioning will focus on funding routes and their subsidiaries in tax haven countries like Mauritius.
The Directorate will also look into the stake sellout deals carried out by certain firms after bagging the spectrum.
Raja was forced to resign from the post on November 14 in the wake of 2G spectrum allocation controversy.
The CAG report had pointed out that the rates at which 2G spectrum was allotted to telecom companies resulted in loss to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
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