2G: Niira Radia likely to appear as witness in court tomorrow

Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, a key prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, is likely to appear tomorrow before a Delhi court to record her statement in the case.
Radia, who was scheduled to appear in court on December 5 last year to testify as a CBI witness, had sought three months' time on the grounds that she had undergone a surgery for a neurological ailment.
The CBI had submitted in the first week of May its list of prosecution witnesses to be called for recording of their statements before Special CBI Judge O P Saini and Radia's deposition was slated for May 28.

CBI, in its charge sheet filed on April 2, 2011 against former Telecom Minister A Raja and others, had named Radia as a prosecution witness in the case.
Radia's statement assumes significance as she, in her statement recorded during the probe under section 161 of the CrPC (dealing with examination of witnesses) before CBI, had said that Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, facing trial in the 2G case, was not "eligible" to get the Unified Access Service (UAS) Licences.
"Regarding M/s Swan Telecom, which was the only applicant to get the spectrum in Delhi circle, I would like to state that M/s Swan Telecom as applicant was not even eligible for getting a UAS licence, in view of the cross holding clause.

"To the best of my understanding it was controlled entirely by M/s Reliance Communications," Radia had told CBI in her statement recorded by the agency on December 21, 2010.
The CBI, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL), an accused in the case, used Swan Telecom, an ineligible firm, as its front company to get licences and the costly radio waves.
Swan Telecom and its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, RTL and three top executives of Reliance ADAG -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, along with others, are facing trial for their alleged roles in the case.