Widening its ambit of probe in the multi-crore 2G scam, the Enforcement Directorate has begun the process of issuing Letters Rogatory to at least 10 countries — including tax havens like Isle of Man, Cyprus and Mauritius — to know the source of funding to telecom companies, which were allotted spectrum.
The ED, which is jointly probing the scam with the CBI, has already approached its counterparts abroad having footprints of some telecom companies allotted spectrum between September 2007 to January 2008.
Official sources said the papers were being prepared for approaching the local court in New Delhi for issuance of LRs to countries including tax havens like Isle of Man, Cyprus and Mauritius besides UAE, Norway, Singapore, Libya and Russia.
Letters Rogatory is a formal request issued by a competent court to a foreign court and processed by the Ministry of External Affairs on behalf of the investigative agencies to obtain information about individuals and entities.
The Letters Rogatory, which will be routed to these countries through Legal and Treaties Division of Ministry of External Affairs, were meant to seek details about financial transactions and background of certain entities, which had pumped money into the Indian Telecom companies.
The ED had launched a probe and registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering to ascertain financial transactions spread across various countries.
It has already completed the first round of its probe with all main telecom companies allegedly involved in the scam.
These companies have submitted details about their financial transactions, foreign holding, the financial backers and information about their subsidiaries.
The Directorate will now hold a second round of questioning with the telecom firms.
The CBI is also investigating the case and had recently conducted raids at the premises of former Telecom Minister A. Raja and certain former Telecom Ministry officials.
