CBI quizzes Anil Ambani over telecom scam probe

Agencies/New Delhi

Ambani’s Reliance ADA group said the appearance by the billionaire at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters in New Delhi was voluntary and that he had not been summoned.

Ambani, India’s fourth richest man with an estimated worth of $13.7bn, according to Forbes.com, met CBI officials "to clarify ongoing issues, relating to telecom matters for the years 2001 to 2010,” the group said.

There was no immediate comment from the CBI.

Television channels showed Ambani, who controls the Reliance ADA Group, leaving the CBI offices surrounded by television crews.

Reliance ADA Group, which includes the country’s second-largest mobile phone company Reliance Communications, has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the second-generation (2G) licensing scandal.

Reliance ADA Group said last weekend that police investigators had questioned several of its officials over alleged irregularities in the awarding in 2008 of 2G mobile phone licences.

The meeting between CBI officials and Ambani marked the latest development in a probe into the government’s sale of the 2G licences at knockdown prices, which has become one of the biggest corruption cases in India’s history.

The national auditor said earlier that irregularities in mobile licence and spectrum allocation cost the public exchequer up to $40bn in lost revenues.

The CBI is looking into companies which may have benefited from suspected rigging of licence bidding rules under then telecom minister A Raja.

Raja was arrested with two former aides earlier this month in the scandal that has tarnished the reputation of the Congress government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The CBI has not alleged that any of the Reliance ADA Group firms profited from the scam.

It has, however, named India’s Swan Telecom - now known as Etisalat DB Telecom - and real estate company Unitech as allegedly having benefited.

The CBI last week arrested Swan Telecom chief Shahid Usman Balwa.

The agency also suggested that Swan Telecom, which got its licence in 2008, appeared to be acting as a "front company” for Reliance Telecom when it applied for the licence.

However, Reliance ADA Group said yesterday no Reliance group company or affiliate "held even a single share in Swan Telecom Ltd, at the time of granting of the 2G licence.”

Meanwhile, the Chennai-based Kalaignar TV, floated by the family of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, yesterday said investigative agencies were welcome to verify its books and documents.

"The CBI or Income Tax Department can inspect our books and documents any time they want. We do not have any objection,” channel’s managing director Sharad Kumar said.

Referring to his February 10 statement, in which he had clarified that the channel had no connection with the 2G spectrum allocation and the loan transaction with Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd in 2009, he said: "Despite the clarification, the CBI has mentioned about the loan transaction in court.”

The CBI has alleged a connection between Swan Telecom’s Shahid Usman Balwa and Kalaignar TV.

While seeking further remand of Balwa, the CBI claimed he was favoured by Raja in the allocation of spectrum.

According to Kumar, Cineyug gave some money as advance towards the acquisition of stakes in Kalaignar TV in 2009.

Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu and daughter Kanimozhi are the major promoters of the company that owns the Kalaignar TV channel.

In a related development, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalitha asked why Karunanidhi was belatedly denying receiving a handwritten letter from industrialist Rata Tata.

"Karunanidhi’s hasty denial of the letter from Ratan Tata, reportedly hand-delivered to him by Niira Radia, raises a new set of questions. He had not issued a denial when the letter was front-paged in a leading national newspaper and reproduced by the electronic media as well,” Jayalalitha said.

"Why did Karunanidhi not bother to deny the letter when it was first reported in the media? And why have Ratan Tata, the purported writer of the letter, and Niira Radia, the person who was supposed to have delivered it, not got into the denial mode? After all, it is not an e-mailed letter. It is handwritten by Ratan Tata himself on the Bombay House stationery of the Tatas,” Jayalalitha said.

The letter dated November 13, 2007 reportedly praises Raja.