New Delhi:
The three Reliance executives who are in jail in connection with the telecom scam have denied that they are considering turning approver in the case. The CBI's statement in the Supreme Court yesterday that suggested this forced a huge slide today in the stocks of companies owned by Anil Ambani like Reliance Capital and Reliance Communications.
(Read: Anil Ambani Group stocks hit record low on news of 2G probe)In a statement issued by the lawyer, the executives clarified today, "Neither Reliance ADA group nor any of its promoters / executives have committed any offence, and there is no question of any of the charge-sheeted executives becoming 'approvers.'"
Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair -all senior employees of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group or ADAG - were arrested in April. They've been charged with using front companies to acquire more network licenses and spectrum for Reliance Infocom than legally permissible. According to telecom policy, no service provider can own more than 10% stake in another company operating in the same area.
In September 2007, Swan was among the companies that applied for a 2G license.
In December, Reliance sold its 9.9% stake in Swan to a company named Delphi Investment for 1.07 crores, a throwaway price according to the CBI which suggests that Delphi was a front for Reliance. Delphi is incorporated in Mauritius. In January 2008, Swan was granted the mobile network license and frequency it had applied for.
In the Supreme Court yesterday, the CBI's lawyer, KK Venugopal, said that the trio of executives had retracted earlier statements in which they accepted responsibility for all decisions taken by ADAG on Swan. The CBI said it would now focus on determining who were "the real beneficiaries" of the deals involving Swan. Today, the executives' statement said that there is "No change in statements or stand by the three charge-sheeted-employees at any stage, either before the investigating agency or the Courts. Any statement to the contrary by CBI before the Supreme Court is baseless."
Reliance has said repeatedly that because it did not own any stake in Swan when the latter won its license, no laws were broken.