Ravi Ruia, one of the founders of Essar Group, along with two others has been summoned to a Delhi court on April 11 in connection with a case over alleged corruption in allocating mobile phone bandwidth more than a decade ago.
Here's the full statement by the Essar Group on the summons:The Essar Group has always displayed the highest regard for law and ethics and has always conducted its business in accordance with the laws of the land. Thus the recent order purporting to take cognizance against Mr Ravi Ruia, in relation to allegations of excess spectrum, is both shocking and surprising.
At the relevant time, Essar Group was a minority partner with the Hutchison Group in various companies which were offering mobile telecom services in India. Sterling Cellular Limited was one of these companies. The day to day management of all of these companies was effectively in the hands of directors and employees nominated by the Hutchison Group.
Hutchison Group is also known for its blemish free reputation and high standards in business and ethics. Hutchison Group companies are listed in many jurisdictions all over the world and are compliant with the highest norms of corporate governance.
The CBI investigated this matter threadbare and unsurprisingly, no explanation was sought from Mr Ravi Ruia or anybody else from Essar Group in view of Essar Group's admittedly minority position in the company. The chargesheet filed by the CBI also does not even mention MrRavi Ruia or any other member of the Essar Group, much less assign any role to them.
The order of the Special Judge, however, purports to hold that Mr Ravi Ruia was "the directing mind and will" of Sterling Cellular Ltd. Given the facts, such a conclusion is clearly incorrect and misconceived and it is not clearly from a reading of the order of the Learned Judge as to on what basis the conclusion has been arrived at.
We are consulting our legal experts and exploring all legal options and will in due course take up appropriate legal proceedings to challenge this order.