If their bail pleas are accepted, it would imply that the true beneficiaries are their bosses – including, perhaps, group chairman Anil Ambani.
The three ADAG executives – Managing Director Gautam Doshi, and Senior Vice-Presidents Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara — filed their bail pleas last week. All three are in jail and their bail pleas will come up for hearing on 29 September.
Their new stand on bail has raised speculation about whether they are about to turn approvers for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
While the Media attention is focused on Raja and co for the scam, the beneficiaries,especially Reliance Industries seems to go unnoticed(?) by the Media.
Seems that media is being selective and the Government and the Opposition have selective amnesia.
You can not bite the hand that feeds.
Story:
DoT issued UASL licenses to Datacom (now renamed as Videocon Telecommunications) to roll out pan – India telecom services, along with free spectrum of 4.4 mega hertz. It was clear that Datacom never had requisite resources to roll out its services on its own. It has therefore concocted a unique way to deceive the Government.
On paper and publicly, Datacom Solutions was always disclosed to be a joint venture between Videocon Group owned by Dhoots and HFCL Group owned by Mr. Nahata and Maloo.
A. Datacom availed illegal benefits aggregating Rs. 17,600 Crores-undue favours by DoT
Background – Order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, vide its order dated 10lh February, 2011 allowed time upto 1st March, 2011, for CBI to submit as to what action has been taken against the beneficiaries of alleged telecom sector irregularities, who prima facie appear to have conspired for causing loss to public revenue.
Datacom was issued telecom licenses at the price of 2001
Datacom, now called Videacon Communications, was issued 21 UAS Licenses.CAG report dated 8th November, 2010 observed that the aggregate loss caused to the national exchequer by issue of 122 new UAS Licenses in 2008 at 2001 price was Rs, 1,02,498 crore.
(Refer Para No. 4.7 page No. 37-42 of CAG Report dated 8th November, 2010)
As per CAG calculations, the loss to public exchequer on account of issue of licenses and allotment of spectrum attributable to Datacom is over Rs. 17,600 crore…..
A. Datacom availed illegal benefits aggregating Rs. 17,600 Crores-undue favours by DoT
Background – Order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, vide its order dated 10lh February, 2011 allowed time upto 1st March, 2011, for CBI to submit as to what action has been taken against the beneficiaries of alleged telecom sector irregularities, who prima facie appear to have conspired for causing loss to public revenue.
Datacom was issued telecom licenses at the price of 2001
Datacom, now called Videacon Communications, was issued 21 UAS Licenses.CAG report dated 8th November, 2010 observed that the aggregate loss caused to the national exchequer by issue of 122 new UAS Licenses in 2008 at 2001 price was Rs, 1,02,498 crore.
(Refer Para No. 4.7 page No. 37-42 of CAG Report dated 8th November, 2010)
As per CAG calculations, the loss to public exchequer on account of issue of licenses and allotment of spectrum attributable to Datacom is over Rs. 17,600 crore.
B. Oswal Agro Group, which was not part of the initial application, was made 10% equity holder – which contributed over 92% of the net worth
Datacom per-se did not have the requisite net worth to meet the eligibility criteria and was ineligible for issuance of UASL. However, after making the application for the license, Datacom issued 10% equity to Oswal Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited of Oswal Agro Group.
The shareholding pattern submitted by Datacom to DoT was as under (Refer Annexure 1):
It is shocking that the shareholding of Oswal Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited was only 10% but its networth used for the purpose of meeting eligibility criteria was 92.2%…
When you send the Group general manager and Top Executives of the Company for a crime of Himalayan Corruption,is it not logical that these acts could not have been committed with out the knowledge of the Bosses?
Did not the CBI verify the Minutes Book for Financial Authority?
Again Reliance has been in the radar for quite some time for irregularities for some time -that they were exonerated later is another matter.
If bankers and Auditors are grilled in the right way with out priority treatment, truth will come out.
The CBI will charge India’s top conglomerates the Essar Group and Relaince ADAG with criminal conspirary and cheating in the multi billion dollar 2G Telecom Licenses Scandal.This Corruption Scam was brought directly under the control of the Supreme Court as the government failed to move against powerful businessmen and politicians.Now the investigative agencies which have broken free from the ruling party’s interference have given the status of the investigation to the Court.The CBI has said that the 2 companies Loop and Swan Telecom were used as front companies by established telecom operators Essar and Reliance Communications to get more license.Note this defeated the entire exercise and there is ample circumstantial evidence to prove that the telecom minister Raja and his cronies connived with the companies to give precious spectrum for a song.Massive kickbacks were given through real estate companies like DB Realty whose top billionaire owners are cooling their heels in jail as well.
It remains to be seen whether the top corporate executives of India’s topmost conglomerates get prosecuted over these wrongdoings.Essar and ADAG are amongst the top 10 conglomerates in India with wide ranging operations with billions of dollars in revenues nationally as well as internationally.The Supreme Court has been instrumental in bringing this case so far as the government seems totally coopted by corruption.It has been frequently been castigated by the Supreme Court and has shamelessly defended corrupt bureaucrats and politicians.It remains to be seen how this 2G Telecom Case ends.If justice is done,then it may provide a new chapter to India’s corruption ridden story till now.
Sitaram’s letter had identified three elements in the telecom scam. One was of course giving away 122 licenses at 2001 prices in 2008. In 2001, there were barely 4 million mobile subscribers as against 300 million subscribers in 2008. With this expansion of the telecom market, using 2001 prices in 2008 was nothing but providing largesses to friends and relations. While the media focussed on this aspect of the scam, there were also two other components. One was the conversion of CDMA licenses to Unified Access Services (UAS), by virtue of which Reliance and Tata entered the GSM based mobile services. The third was the extra spectrum that the existing operators had hogged beyond their originally sanctioned amount. The table below summarises the amounts computed by the CPI(M) as in the letter to PM by Sitaram Yechury and the computations by CAG.
Item
Approx. Amount
CAG Calculations
Loss due to 122 licenses for new entrants in 2008
Rs. 124,000 crore
Rs. 102,498 crore
Loss due to cross-over licenses permitted to CDMA operators (Dual Technology License)
36,000 crore
Rs. 37,154 crore
Estimated loss due to excess spectrum occupied by the GSM operators beyond allotted 6.2 MHz
Rs. 30,000 crore
Rs 36,729 crore
Total
Rs.190,000 crore
Rs 1,76,379 crore
These figures are now longer conjectures of experts or figures computed by people who could be accused of being critical of the Government. These are figures worked out by a bunch of government auditors who had access to the files of the Department of Telecom and have come to their independent conclusions.
Who were the major beneficiaries of the scam? As the CAG Report makes clear, not only were the new licenses for 2G undervalued, but certain parties picked out for special favours. Swan and Unitech, the two real estate companies, were particular favourites. The second set of beneficiaries were the CDMA license holders — Reliance and Tata — who were given cross-over licenses for the bigger GSM market. The third were those GSM operators – Vodafone and Bharati in particular — who were holding spectrum well-beyond their original allotted spectrum.
The CAG report has also substantiated the charges made in the letter that Sitaram Yechury had written regarding violations of TRAI recommendations and disregarding the advise of other Ministries. The Report states, “The entire process of spectrum allocation was undertaken in an arbitrary manner. The Hon’ble Prime Minister had stressed on the need for a fair and transparent allocation of spectrum, and the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Law and Justice had sought for the decision regarding spectrum pricing to be considered by an EGoM. Brushing aside these concerns and advices, the Department of Telecommunications, in 2008, proceeded to issue 122 new licences for 2G spectrum at 2001 prices, thus flouting all rules and procedures to be followed in a parliamentary democratic set up. The process followed for spectrum allocation was also unfair, considering the fact that DoT did not follow its own guidelines on eligibility conditions, arbitrarily changed the cut off date for receipt of applications post facto and altered the conditions of the FCFS (first-come first-served) procedure it had been following, gave unfair advantage of certain companies over others thus creating an environment which can not be perceived as transparent and fair.”
As the CAG Report makes clear, the manipulations to the stated first-come first-served policies were done to benefit certain parties. It again substantiates what Yechury had brought out in his May letter to the PM. The original first-come first-served had the application date as defining who are first-come. On Jan 10, 2010 this was changed to who fulfils LOI conditions first amongst the parties selected. CAG states, “Thus DoT deviated from its declared FCFS (first-cum-first-served) policy though MOCIT (Minister of Communications & IT) maintained that it was continuing ‘with the policy for processing of applications’
NEW DELHI: Corporate lobbyist Niira Radiahas told the CBI that Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar may be controlling the controversial DB Realty and may have pursued the issue of spectrum and licence forSwan Telecom with former telecom minister A Raja.
In a statement to CBI, which has been filed as part of the chargesheet in the 2G scam, Radia says on being asked by a journalist how she knew about Pawar lobbying with Raja to get approvals for Swan, “That as per the general perception in Mumbai as well as outside DB Realties (sic) directly or indirectly (is) controlled by Sharad Pawar and his family members.”
Radia added that she had no “documentary proof or some other evidence” to back up her allegation. She, however, said Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka “are key persons in DB Realty”, and “in that background, I had quoted the name of Sharad Pawar who might have pursued the matter with Raja, then telecom minister, for showing (favour) to Swan as well as to Anil AmbaniReliance Communications in issuing of UAS (unified access service) licence and dual technology”.
Pawar has in the past denied having anything to do with the DB Realty group although Goenka has said that he has family links with the Maratha leader. Goenka`s Dynamix group has a large presence in Baramati, Pawar`s constituency.
Radia gave four separate statements to CBI, most of them dealing with the several phone conversations she had with various people including Ratan Tata, A Raja, Raja`s personal secretary R K Chandolia, several journalists and senior executives from various corporate houses. The conversations and her explanations before the investigation agency illustrates her proximity to Raja, Chandolia and many others.
The lobbyist also told CBI that former IAS officers Pradeep Baijal and C M Vasudev were given “sweat equity” of 10% each in her consulting firm. Baijal was TRAI chairman until March 2006, while Vasudev held several crucial posts in the finance ministry.
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