2G court issues fresh summons to Anil Ambani

Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani were Saturday issued fresh summons by a Delhi court to depose Aug 22 and 23 as prosecution witnesses in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini issued fresh summons to the two after they were exempted from appearing in court Friday.

The court allowed the plea of Anil Ambani, who was summoned Friday, seeking exemption from personal appearance on the ground that he had pre-scheduled business engagements.

Filing an application in the court seeking exemption from appearance, Ambani had said that he received the summon July 23 and owing to extremely short notice of just two days, it would not be possible for him to appear before it.

He said that due to his large number of pre-scheduled and pre-committed business engagements it would not be possible to appear before court on short notice and he would appear before the court any day after Aug 15.

The trial court had earlier allowed the CBI's plea to make Anil Ambani, his wife and 11 others prosecution witnesses in the case.

There are, however, no charges against Anil Ambani and his wife.

One of the main contentions of the probe agency for calling Ambanis as prosecution witnesses was that Swan Telecom, which was among the companies that got telecom spectrum and licence in 2008, was a shell of Anil Ambani Group and was hence not eligible - a matter that has been denied by the defence.

The CBI had said Tina Ambani presided over meetings where key decisions on 2G were taken.

Three executives of Reliance Group and the promoters of Swan are facing trial.