2G scam: CBI gives clean chit to Anil Ambani

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had said it was still probing the role of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) chairman, Anil Ambani, in the 2G scam, has given a clean chit to him in the structuring of different firms and transfer of funds relating to Swan Telecom.

“The investigation did not not reveal any evidence, either oral or documentary, to implicate Anil Ambani in the structuring of different companies and transfer of funds,” the agency said in its status report to the Supreme Court on September 29.

The CBI was filing its response to a note from petitioner Prashant Bhushan in, which he had sought to create a “wrong impression” about the fairness and impartial nature of its investigations.

Among other things, Bhushan had alleged it was inconceivable that three employees could have created a convoluted maze of companies to disguise Swan's real ownership and taken Rs 1,000 crore of company money without the approval of the chairman of the Board.

The CBI said at the time of filing of applications to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for Universal Access Service (UAS) licences, the share holders of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd included M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd (91.1 per cent) and M/s Reliance Telecom Ltd (9.1 per cent).

The share holders M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd included two companies namely M/s Zebra Consultants Pvt Ltd and M/s Parrot Consultant Pvt Ltd. All these three companies were holding each other in an inter-locking structure. Fund invested by M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd in equity of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd were ultimately sourced from M/s ADAE Ventures Pvt Ltd.

On March 2, 2007, M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd further invested Rs 95.50 crore in the equity of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd. These funds were ultimately sourced from M/s Sonata Investments Ltd. Besides this, few small amounts were transferred to M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd from M/s AAA Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd, the CBI said.