Five telecom execs sent to jail

CBI court hearing 2G spectrum allocation scam rejects bail plea.

A court on Wednesday rejected the bail applications of five top executives of telecom companies accused in the country’s biggest scam involving award of telecom licences and spectrum in 2008.

The five are Sanjay Chandra, the managing director of Unitech and chairman of Unitech Wireless; Gautam Doshi, group MD, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG); Surendra Pipara, senior vice-president of ADAG; Hari Nair, senior vice-president of ADAG; and Vinod Goenka, the MD of DB Realty and Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB). They have been sent to jail.

The five have moved the Delhi High Court against the order.

The case is being heard by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.

CBI has alleged that Doshi, Pipara and Nair cheated the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) by clandestinely building Swan Telecom’s net worth through funds arranged from Reliance Telecom and associates.

The shareholding of Swan was structured to show that 9.9 per cent equity was held by Reliance Telecom and 90.1 per cent by Tiger Trustees, although the entire company was controlled by the ADA group, said CBI.

Goenka, an associate of DB Realty’s Shahid Usman Balwa and a director of Swan Telecom, is accused of forging documents, including the minutes of a board meeting of Giraffe Consultancy, showing transfer of shares in 2007 itself.

Doshi is accused of acting with others to play an active role in structuring and funding Swan, Tiger and other holding companies.

CBI said using Swan as a front to apply for 2G licences, disguising the actual ownership and control, was Doshi’s idea.

CBI said Unitech was in the business of real estate and its memorandum of association did not include telecom when it applied for the licences.

“The companies were ineligible for licences,” CBI said.

It made similar allegations against Goenka, saying he “conspired” with former telecom minister A Raja and DoT officials to “secure” unified access licences.

CBI had earlier named the five executives in the charge sheet.

Among those present in the court on Wednesday were Raja, R K Chandolia, who was secretary to Raja when the latter was a cabinet minister, and Swan promoter Shahid Balwa. The three are already in judicial custody.

CBI will file now another charge sheet mentioning the details of the bribes given in the scam.

The scam grabbed headlines last year after the Comtroller and Auditor General pegged the loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

Later, CBI indicted Raja for indulging in conspiracy with bureaucrats and some companies to cause a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer.

Unitech said the development would not have an adverse affect on it or its real estate business as the case related to its telecom venture.

While ADAG did not comment, DB Realty Group Director (business, strategy and finance) N Shridhar said, “It is unfortunate that the bail plea of Vinod Goenka has been rejected. We have immense faith in our judicial system and are confident that justice will prevail.” DB Realty said these developments would not affect the company’s operations.

Etisalat acquired stake in Etisalat DB (formerly Swan Telecom) in December 2008, which means the company’s investment in Etisalat DB took place after the licences had been applied for and obtained by Swan, said a statement from the Gulf-based company.