Alleging that foreign direct investment by Etihad Airways — national carrier of the United Arab Emirates — into Indian aviation giant Jet Airways was just another way of compensating for bribes paid by Etisalat to Indian politicians for the 2G spectrum licence, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not allow the Jet-Etihad deal to proceed.
“The investment [by] Etihad has nothing to do with the need of Jet Airways but in fact a sop offer by the UPA to the Sheikh Amir of Abu Dhabi,” Dr. Swamy said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
The Sheikh’s other company Etisalat Telecom’s licence, “which was illegally obtained from Shahid Balwa of Swam Telecom, was cancelled by the Supreme Court on my Writ Petition” caused a loss of about $1 billion to him, Dr. Swamy wrote.
“You may also call for the letter written by the Indian Ambassador to UAE to Ministry of Civil Aviation stating that the Amir was very upset with the cancellation of Etisalat licence, and therefore had to be “compensated,” he said.
To compensate for the loss, “UPA government decided to quadruple the air space provided and thereby reduce Indian airport as feeder airport of the UAE.”
Dr. Swamy urged Mr. Modi to direct the Ministry to not proceed with the Jet-Etihad deal till the SC disposed of the pending petition filed by him, to be heard next on December 10.
