Swan, Loop used as front cos to get spectrum: CBI

Former Telecom Minister A Raja, along with some corporate czars and telecom companies Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom will be prosecuted on charges of cheating, forgery, corruption in 2G spectrum scam as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today told Supreme Court that there is ample evidence against them.

The investigating agency told the apex court that a charge sheet running into around 80,000 pages comprising the transcript of telephonic conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with top business honchos, politicians and others will be placed before a special court set up to exclusively hold trial in the scam on April 2.

CBI and ED informed the court that large-scale violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and benami transactions were involved in bringing foreign money in Swan and Loop telecom which were acting as front companies by established telecom players to get 2G spectrum illegally during the tenure of Raja.

The fresh status report, which was filed in a sealed cover before a bench comprising justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly about the probe carried out by the CBI and ED, said Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were allegedly used as front companies by Reliance Group (ADAG) and Essar respectively. Essar already has stakes in Vodafone.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, who read out the portion of report, said there was evidence of "forgery" in altering of first-come-first-serve policy by Raja to allow some companies to get 2G spectrum and Swan and Loop hid the details about their companies to get spectrum in illegal manner.

Swam Telecom's promoter Shahid Usman Balwa has been arrested by the CBI and ADAG firm RCom Chairman Anil Ambani also appeared before the agency in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.