3 Reliance ADAG executives in Tihar may turn approvers,spill beans: CBI

Instead,Venugopal said,they have changed tune drastically in the Delhi High Court to say they were only “employees” and didn’t receive any benefits. The three officials,Gautam Doshi (managing director,Reliance ADAG); Surendra Pipara (senior vice-president of ADAG and Reliance Telecom) and Hari Nair (senior vice-president ADAG),have been accused of conspiracy and abetment to cheating in the 2G scam. They are in Tihar Jail.

Venugopal said their change in stand while pleading for bail in the high court could mean that the trio “may turn approvers” and shed light on the real beneficiaries of the Swan Telecom stake sale to Delphi.

“When originally questioned under Section 161 CrPC they took entire responsibility. In the High Court,they said they were only employees and there are persons who are the real beneficiaries. From them (Doshi,Pipara and Nair) we have to find out who the real beneficiaries are… in which case they may turn approvers,” Venugopal submitted.

Reacting to the hearing today,Reliance Telecom issued a press statement saying: “None of the three Reliance executives chargesheeted by CBI have at any stage till date expressed any desire to become approvers. The distorted media reporting on this issue is a very serious matter and will be acted upon. It is reiterated neither Reliance Telecom nor the promoters are beneficiaries of any telecom licences issued in January 2008.”

Venugopal’s submissions comes in the context of allegations raised by advocate Prashant Bhushan,appearing for the NGO,Centre for Public Interest Litigation,that the CBI had not gone after the “big fish”,including Anil Ambani,and a Special Investigation Team has to be set up to supervise the CBI probe into 2G scam.

Re-opening the 2G case probe records on the basis of Bhushan’s allegation,Venugopal said the agency found that Swan offloaded its 107.91 lakh equity shares of its spectrum stake to Delphi at a “grossly undervalued” price of Rs 15 per share. The total sale was worth $76 million. Delphi then sold the shares to Etisalat for Rs 285 per share.

“We have to question the three of them on who Delphi is,” Venugopal said.

The CBI has already sent Letters Rogatory to Mauritius and Switzerland on the money trail regarding Swan shares’ sale.

“At first,Pipara said they had acted as per Doshi’s instructions. But in the high court they said they were mere employees and the decision-making was not theirs,” Venugopal briefed the bench. “We will investigate further,” he said.

Touching on the controversy of the Finance Ministry note on Home Minister P Chidambaram’s stand on 2G spectrum allocation,the CBI said: “He (Chidambaram) is not the only one in the department. There are many other officials. It is politically fruitful to attack him. It gets to the headlines.”

Referring to Bhushan’s claim that CBI did not find any culpability against Videocon Industries-owned Datacom,the agency said it did not find any evidence showing criminal conspiracy on part of the company. It claimed that Datacom was eligible.

It also cleared the name of Tata Teleservices,and said the company was already an “existing licensee which did not fall in the same category as that of the new licensees. Tata has priority over other applicants”.

The CBI said that it did not find any evidence to show that the Tatas “gifted” a landmark property in Chennai. Bhushan had alleged that the CBI did not properly look into the alleged multi-crore land deal linking a close aide of DMK MP Kanimozhi and Tata group company Voltas.

“Tatas did not gift the land to anyone. The land was not held by Voltas. It is on lease till date and there is no change of possession. The matter on the extension of the lease is sub judice in Madras High Court,” Venugopal said,adding that the CBI is looking into “donations” received by some NGOs from telecoms a few days before they received Letters of Intent from the A Raja-led Telecom Ministry was in 2008.

Resisting any attempt to form a SIT,Venugopal said: “What is it that changes the situation now that would want Your Lordships to have a SIT… would such a step not slow down the CBI? There is nothing to say that CBI did not carry out the investigation independently and effectively.”

The court has scheduled the hearing for October 10.