DoT was doubtful about Swan Telecom's eligibility, says CBI

Though the Department of Telecom (DoT) officials were doubtful about the eligibility of Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL), then Telecom minister A Raja overruled them, clearing hurdles for “illegal” grant of radio waves to the firm, the CBI told a special court here on Tuesday.

“Officers (of DoT) were apprehensive about whether STPL was eligible or not and it was A Raja (then Telecom minister) and other accused who said that it was eligible,” Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini, advancing final arguments in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

According to the CBI, the STPL which secured second generation spectrum licenses in violation of rules, was the “front company” of the Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), even as accused Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka were shown as promoters of the firm. Raja is accused of “deliberately” changing the spectrum allocation policy to the STPL and also Unitech Wireless Limited in lieu of Rs 200 crore bribe. DMK’s patriarch M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, his daughter and a Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi were also involved in the conspiracy along with other accused in the case.

“The DoT officials had initially noted that there was some discrepancy in the STPL’s eligibility,” Grover told the special CBI court. The prosecutor also referred to various documents on record to substantiate the charge against Raja.

The DoT officials became “apprehensive” about the STPL’s eligibility for 2G spectrum licences after they took note of “some discrepancies” in documents while conducting scrutiny of the company’s application, the CBI counsel added. The CBI’s argument, which remained inconclusive, would continue on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Special CBI Court has fixed December 9 to hear the final arguments in the Essar-Loop case. The court deferred the argument in the case as it wanted to focus on the ongoing arguments in the main case of the 2G spectrum scam in which Raja and other accused have been charged with causing a loss of over Rs 30,000 crore to the public exchequer by allocation of 122 second generation spectrum to ineligible companies in violation of rules.