Hands-free option

Hearings at the special Central Bureau of Investigation court on the 2G telecom spectrum case are not without their moments of unintended humour, notwithstanding the gravity and complexity of the issues under discussion. One such moment was provided by Som Subramaniam, former chief financial officer (CFO) of BPL Communications. He had already been reprimanded by judge O P Saini for giving long-winded and evasive replies but seems to have heeded this warning lightly. Thus, when asked about his involvement in the share-purchase agreement between Essar Teleholdings and BPL Communications, he went off on quite another tangent. Even though he was the CFO, he said, he did not handle the paperwork for that particular deal. He added, "It is correct that this was despite the fact that I was group CFO. I was happy with this arrangement as I had no option. If I was not happy, I would have quit the company, but I did not get any offer."