2G case: ‘Swan, RTL, R-Com are associates as per CBI papers’

Prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum scam case, former Mumbai Registrar of Societies Henry Richard on Tuesday told the court that according to documents made available to him by the CBI in 2011, Swan Telecom (STPL), Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) and Reliance Communications Limited (RCL) are associates of each other, and RCL had invested 9.87 per cent of equity shares in STPL.

During his cross examination by senior advocate HH Ponda on behalf of Reliance Telecom, Richard told the court of Special Judge OP Saini that he had come across "certain documents which showed certain material transactions between STPL and RTL", and mentioned that RTL had in 2007 instructed HDFC bank to transfer Rs 974.49 crore from RTL account to STPL for payment of subscription of preference shares along with premium.

He, however, clarified that these two transactions were the only transactions between STPL and RTL, and that preference shares do not carry any voting rights. He also said that he had found only one transaction of supplying telecommunication equipment, between RCL and STPL.

He further stated that, "It is correct that I did not come across any agreement or statute giving authority for gaining significant influence to either of these companies, that is, RCL or RTL, in STPL." Referring to a report submitted by him in 2011 on the basis of documents supplied by the CBI, he also said that STPL, RTL and RCL are associates of each other and belong to ADA Group. "I mean the companies belong to ADA Group," he said.

On being asked to clarify the term "associate company", he said "...in order to be associate of another entity, one entity must be an investing party and must have significant influence in the investee party. As per the records before me, Reliance Communication had not invested anything in STPL."

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