The Enforcement Directorate, an agency that probes money laundering and violations of rules governing use of foreign exchange , has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe an incident in which a journalist is alleged to have approached an officer seeking to intercede on behalf of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia , who has been questioned by investigating agencies probing the socalled 2G scam.

In a letter sent in November last year and marked secret, the Enforcement Directorate said the journalist, Upendra Rai , who is in a senior editorial position at Sahara News Network, had offered to "pay" an official of the directorate in return for the "favour" . The letter, the contents of which were described to ETreporters, was sent to the then CBI director Ashwani Kumar by the additional director of ED, RP Upadhyaya. It was sent with the approval of ED Director Arun Mathur.

In his response to questions from this paper, Rai denied approaching the ED on behalf of Radia. Vaishnavi, a PR agency owned by Radia, said it had no knowledge of any such event. The letter, dated November 25, alleges Rai sought "favours" on behalf of Radia from the ED official and indicated that he was "ready to pay 2 crore" for it.

Rai also allegedly told the ED official that he had known Radia for 12 years. Rai had sought an appointment with the official on the pretext of "furnishing some information" of use to the investigators probing the 2G scam , which refers to the allotment of telecom licences at below-market prices by former telecom minister A Raja.

CBI Carrying Out Investigation

The ED official - described in the alleged encounter outlined in the letter - politely declined the proposal and referred the matter to his boss Mathur, who in turn referred it to the CBI for "appropriate consideration and necessary action" . The official is not named in the letter. Mathur declined comment, as did a spokesperson for the CBI.

But another official in the ED told ET that the complaint against Rai had been sent again to the office of the current CBI director, AP Singh, a few days ago. The official, who did not wish to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the CBI is carrying out a probe.
Both Rai and Radia however denied ED version.