Swan Telecom was propped up by Reliance Telecom: CBI to court

New Delhi: CBI Wednesday told a special 2G court that Swan Telelcom Pvt Ltd (STPL) was "propped up" by Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and the former did not have the equity for being eligible for Unified Access Service Licence (UASL).

Advancing final arguments in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, the agency told Special CBI Judge O P Saini that RTL had funded STPL and the cycle of money flow between Reliance ADA Group firms, its subsidiaries companies and Swan Telecom was completely "non genuine" in the case.

Explaining the money flow, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said that bank transactions between these firms showed that money flow started from RTL, went through its various subsidiaries to STPL and the money later came back to RTL.

"Swan Telecom did not have equity worth to be eligible for UASL. It was propped up by Reliance ADAG," he said during the arguments which would continue tomorrow.

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

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

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

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 to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which was scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.