Unitech questions CBI for sparing other telecos in 2G case

August 06, 2011 06:29 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 01:29 am IST - New Delhi

Unitech Wireless MD Sanjay Chandra on Saturday questioned CBI in a court here for sparing in the charge sheets other telecom companies which were ready with the demand drafts much before the Letters of Intent (LoI) were distributed for 2G spectrum licence.

Mr. Chandra, who has been in Tihar Jail in connection with the scam, told the court that not only his company but others like Tata Teleservices, Spice Communications and Loop Telecom were ready with the demand drafts in advance to comply with the conditions of LoIs.

“There are allegations that because Unitech (and Swan) kept the demand drafts for compliance of LoIs ready months before January 10, 2008, it goes on to show that we had prior inside information. But almost all applicants had their demand drafts ready much in advance,” Mr. Chandra’s counsel and senior advocate R.S. Cheema told Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini.

The counsel justified the issuance of demand draft in advance saying every condition, including the entry fee for licence, was known and there was no foul play involved in the entire episode.

“The UASL guidelines specify that within 30 days of making the application, LoIs will be issued. The figure payable as entry fee was already known and since nothing was left to guesswork, we got the DDs prepared. Had there been any inside information, we would not have blocked our money losing out interest on it,” he said.

He also pointed out the statements of officials of Tata Teleservices, Spice and Loop as having told CBI that they also had got the drafts ready in advance.

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