2G scam: Reliance ADAG entirely funded Swan Telecom, says CBI

'The transactions were done in a circuitous route deliberately and most of the companies involved in it are Reliance ADA group firms.'

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday told a special court that Reliance ADA Group had made the entire funding for Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), one of the accused firm in 2G spectrum allocation case, in an alleged violation of stipulated rules.

The agency said that the group made the fundings through a "circuitous route" when STPL had applied for 2G licences in 14 telecom circles across the country.

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 case along with ex-Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others.

In its charge sheet, CBI has alleged that Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) had used STPL, an ineligible firm, as front company to get the 2G licenses and the costly radio waves.

All the accused had denied allegations levelled against them by CBI.

Advancing the final arguments in the case, special public prosecutor Anand Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini that whole funding was done by Reliance ADAG and the transactions were "disguised" as they were not genuine.

"STPL had applied for licences in 14 telecom circles. Our case is that whole funding was done by Reliance ADAG," Grover said. He further argued that transactions between Reliance ADAG firms, STPL and other companies were not genuine.

"It (transactions) was disguised. It was done to increase the paid up capital of STPL," he said.

"Reliance ADAG is a listed company and the way it invested in STPL showed that it was not genuine. STPL was one of its group companies. It was not prudent business transactions," he said.

He also said, "The transactions were done in a circuitous route deliberately and most of the companies involved in it are Reliance ADA group firms."

The arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on November 2.

Besides them, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case.

Three telecom companies -- Reliance Telecom Ltd, STPL and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd -- are also accused in the case.

In its charge sheet, CBI had alleged a loss of Rs 30,984 crore (Rs 309.84 billion) to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which was scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.

The court had on October 22, 2011, framed charges against these accused under various provisions of IPC and under the relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, criminal misconduct by public servant and taking bribe.