2G: Reliance ADAG funded STPL through front cos, says CBI

CBI today claimed in a special 2G court that Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) had structured front companies to fund Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) to increase its net worth for bagging radio waves.
STPL and its promoters, Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, and three top executives of Reliance ADAG -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, are facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case along with former Telecom Minister A Raja and others.
Advancing final arguments in 2G spectrum allocation case, special public prosecutor Anand Grover said that various firms involved in the transaction of money to Swan Capital Pvt Ltd, which later became STPL, were Reliance ADAG's companies.

He alleged that funds were transferred to Swan Capital Pvt Ltd through a web of companies for meeting the criteria of the Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) guidelines.
He said these companies include Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd (TTPL), Parrot Consultant Pvt Ltd (PCPL), Zebra Consultant Pvt Ltd (ZCPL) and AAA Consultancy Pvt Ltd.
"These (firms) are all Reliance ADA Group firms and they all adopted same modus operandi of transaction which continued right from the begining till the end. These firms were nothing but front companies of Reliance ADAG," Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

"AAA consultancy services Pvt Ltd, TTPL, PCPL and ZCPL were all Reliance ADA Group company and their interlocking structure is also explained by Mr Mittal who was investigating officer of the case," he alleged.

Grover claimed that to meet the UASL criteria, Reliance ADAG was required to have only 9.9 percent stake in STPL while the remaining 90.1 per cent stake was of TTPL.
The final arguments remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.
All the accused, including STPL, its promoters, the three executives of Reliance ADAG and accused firm Reliance Telecom Ltd had earlier denied all allegations levelled against them by CBI.