JOIN US×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheet on the Antrix-Devas case has sparked an angry response from those named, with Devas Multimedia dubbing it a “mala fide act” of the Indian government.
Devas chairman Lawrence Babbio on Friday called it a “retaliation” for the company exercising its legal right to contest the “illegal” annulment of the satellite spectrum deal with Antrix, the marketing arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
Devas had approached the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal at The Hague, which ruled that the Indian government acted unfairly and had to pay compensation up to $1 billion.
The CBI’s chargesheet on Thursday was against Devas, its former CEO and three directors besides the then Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair and other officials.
In a statement, Babbio noted that the chargesheet was issued just weeks after the PCA tribunal had “unanimously found that the Indian government unlawfully expropriated the investments of Devas Mauritius-incorporated shareholders.”
He said that since 2011, when India annulled the Devas-Antrix contract, “Devas had been subject to a range of unlawful measures from various parts of the Indian government, including the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate.”
The chargesheet, Babbio said, is a continuation of the government’s campaign against Devas and its shareholders for daring to exercise their legal rights.
Former additional secretary in the Department of Space, Veena S Rao who, too, was named in the charge sheet, called it “shocking, laughable and ludicrous.”
“Pick on the weakest of them without a shred of evidence, a woman of the highest integrity, but without any political or ideological cover, and thinks it has done a perfect investigation,” she said in a Facebook post.
“The Antrix-Devas contract was approved at the Antrix board meeting held on December 24, 2004. I was not present at the board meeting, as I had not yet been appointed to the Antrix board, and therefore had no knowledge of it,” she explained.
Devas chairman Lawrence Babbio on Friday called it a “retaliation” for the company exercising its legal right to contest the “illegal” annulment of the satellite spectrum deal with Antrix, the marketing arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
Devas had approached the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal at The Hague, which ruled that the Indian government acted unfairly and had to pay compensation up to $1 billion.
The CBI’s chargesheet on Thursday was against Devas, its former CEO and three directors besides the then Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair and other officials.
In a statement, Babbio noted that the chargesheet was issued just weeks after the PCA tribunal had “unanimously found that the Indian government unlawfully expropriated the investments of Devas Mauritius-incorporated shareholders.”
He said that since 2011, when India annulled the Devas-Antrix contract, “Devas had been subject to a range of unlawful measures from various parts of the Indian government, including the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate.”
The chargesheet, Babbio said, is a continuation of the government’s campaign against Devas and its shareholders for daring to exercise their legal rights.
Former additional secretary in the Department of Space, Veena S Rao who, too, was named in the charge sheet, called it “shocking, laughable and ludicrous.”
“Pick on the weakest of them without a shred of evidence, a woman of the highest integrity, but without any political or ideological cover, and thinks it has done a perfect investigation,” she said in a Facebook post.
“The Antrix-Devas contract was approved at the Antrix board meeting held on December 24, 2004. I was not present at the board meeting, as I had not yet been appointed to the Antrix board, and therefore had no knowledge of it,” she explained.
ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 12 August 2016, 20:47 IST)
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT