Reliance ADAG infused crores in Swan Telecom, claims CBI

New Delhi: CBI yesterday accused Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) of having "infused" thousands of crores in Shahid Balwa's Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), which allegedly was a front company to bag 2G licences.

The probe agency told a special 2G court that the front company was not eligible in March 2007 to apply for the radiowaves.

Presenting the final arguments for CBI, special public prosecutor Anand Grover said huge amount of money was transferred from Reliance ADAG to STPL through a "circuitous route" to conceal its "true ownership" and it was done to fulfil the net worth criteria of the applicant firm to bag the 2G licences.

"For 13 circles, STPL applied for 2G licences and Reliance ADAG funded thousands of crores in it (STPL). Reliance ADAG infused several thousands of crores in STPL. A circuitous route was applied to fund STPL to fulfil the eligibility of net worth of STPL," he told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

Reliance ADAG has denied all through that STPL was its front company.

Giving details about alleged concealment of true ownership of STPL, Grover said although it was shown that Reliance ADAG was holding only 9.9 per cent in STPL and the remaining 90.1 per cent was held by Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd (TTPL), TTPL was nothing but a firm owned by Reliance ADAG.

"TTPL was a company owned by Reliance ADAG to control STPL...TTPL's inter-locking with other group companies was made. This was done to conceal the true ownership of STPL," he claimed during the final arguments in the case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja and others are facing trial.

"It is our case that all these companies were operated by Reliance ADAG and its officials were on the board of directors in these firms and key operations were done by them. Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair (three top officials of Reliance ADAG facing trial in the case) were commanding the structures of these companies," Grover said.

He told the court that it was CBI's case that STPL was a Reliance ADAG company and on the date of application seeking 2G licences, that is March 5, 2007, STPL was not eligible.

The final arguments in the case would continue on July 22.

CBI had earlier alleged that Raja had "misled" then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to 2G spectrum allocation in conspiracy with others to favour certain firms.

It had said favour was done to "ineligible" firms Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd at the behest of Raja who had allegedly changed first-come-first- served policy to suit them.

The case pertains to the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others including some top corporate executives are facing trial.

In its charge sheet, CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.

Besides Raja, Kanimozhi, Doshi, Pipara and Nair, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, STPL promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra are facing trial in the case.

Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV Director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case.

Besides these 14 accused persons, three telecom firms -- Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd -- are also accused in the case.

The court had on October 22, 2011, framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.

The offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.

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