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The Tata Group Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, rejected allegations of giving bribe to former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, to secure 2G spectrum allocation, at the 104th Annual General Meeting of Tata Steel AGM here.
“Not even one paisa was paid to Mr Raja. The money was for the hospital and medical equipment meant for people. Since no hospital was built and no equipment was purchased, no money was paid. We do not make payments in advance.
“The statements made in courts are to create a diversion,” Mr Tata said while responding to a question on reports that the company had paid Rs 20 crore to a hospital in Mr Raja's constituency.
“Lots of things we have not said in public because we have given all the information to the agencies.
“Besides, the matter is sub-judice and we may risk contempt of court, if we say anything more,” he said, adding, “We have never been asked or given any sort of bribe or gratification to Mr Raja or anybody else.”
capacity augmentation
Our Mumbai Bureau reports
Tata Steel will use the funds raised from Riversdale stake sale for capacity augmentation globally, said Mr Tata. The company raised $1.1 billion after selling a 26 per cent stake in Riversdale to Rio Tinto.
“We are investing in productivity improvement projects in our UK and European operations which are value accretive to the company,” said Mr Tata. The other areas where capital will be allocated are towards optimising the usage and cost of energy. However, he said that growth in steel demand will be moderate in the US and Europe in the short term while steel consumption in India will continue to thrive because of demand coming in from the infrastructure sector.
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