Reliance ADA Group company Reliance Telecom on Wednesday told a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court hearing the 2G spectrum scam that Swan Telecom was not its “associate” company, and that it had divested its minor stake-holding of 9.1 per cent even before universal access service (UAS) licences were issued to Swan.
“Reliance Telecom Limited [RTL] had only 9.19 per cent holding in Swan Telecom Private Limited [STPL]. Over 90 per cent was held by Tiger Traders Private Limited [TTPL]. Is it the prosecution's case that [the] TTPL is an associate of RTL? There is not even a suggestion of this,” senior advocate and counsel for RTL Ismail Chagla said.
“All that the charge sheet suggests is that I violated Clause 8 of the UAS licence guidelines and sold an ineligible company. In other words, there was no criminal intent on my part. At worst, I made an application which was ineligible. At worst, I misread Clause 8,” the counsel said.
Mr. Chagla said the CBI had placed no charge of corrupt motive or gain placed on his client. “Ultimately licence was won by a company in which I have no shareholding, Even the 9.1 per cent RTL owned was disposed. So, the only charge is whether I had misread clauses.”
Clause 8 of the UAS licence guidelines states that no single company “either directly or through its associates shall have substantial equity holding in more than one licencee company in the same service area…”
The STPL had applied for UAS licences in 13 circles where Reliance Telecom, which had until then offered CDMA (code vision multiple access) services, had no GSM (global system for mobile communications) spectrum.
The CBI had alleged in its charge sheet that at the time of application for licence, March 2, 2007, the STPL was an associate of the Reliance ADA Group/Reliance Communication/ Reliance Telecom having UAS licences in all telecom circles and that the TTPL was also an associate company of Reliance ADA Group. The agency also charged that the funds for STPL were raised from Reliance Telecom.
The CBI charged that top Reliance ADA Group officials Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara on receipt of approval for allocation of dual technology spectrum “knowingly did not withdraw their fraudulent application for UAS licence and in conspiracy with Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka transferred the management of Swan Telecom to them.”
