NEW DELHI, July 1:
CBI today told a special court that the Essar Group of companies had “directly funded” majority of the money involved in the transactions relating to the case in which promoters of the group and Loop Telecom, among others, are facing trial.
Continuing final arguments in the case arising out of the investigation in 2G spectrum allocation scam, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said as per the documents on record, the money trail originated from various firms of Essar Group.
He claimed that the Group had violated clause 8 of Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) guidelines to secure the radiowaves.
As per clause 8 of UASL guidelines, “No single company or legal person, either directly or through its associates, shall have 10 per cent or more equity holding in more than one licensee company in the same service area for same service.”
“Essar Group violated clause 8 of the UASL guidelines. Apart from a small portion, all the money was directly funded by Essar Group of companies in the entire transactions,” Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.
He also referred to the documents placed on record by the CBI and statements of witnesses recorded during the trial to buttress his arguments that Essar Group of companies were actually controlling Loop Telecom.
He said that apart from the funding, even manpower and resources of the Essar Group had worked directly in the entire transactions to help Loop Telecom.
CBI’s arguments today remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.
The CBI had earlier told the court that the accused firm Loop Telecom Ltd (LTL) was “used” by Essar Group of companies to acquire 2G licences by “circumventing” the procedures.
Essar Group promoters Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia, Loop Telecom promoters, Kiran Khaitan, her husband I P Khaitan and Essar Group Director (Strategy and Planning) Vikash Saraf are facing trial in the case, along with three telecom firms – LTL, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holding Ltd (ETHL).
The five individual accused, who are out on bail, have denied the charges levelled by CBI. CBI had chargesheeted the accused on December 12, 2011, alleging they had cheated the Department of Telecommunication by using Loop Telecom as a “front” to secure 2G licences in 2008.
The court on September 15, 2014 had concluded recording of defence evidence in a case.
On May 25, 2012, the court had framed charges against all the accused under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 420 (cheating) of the IPC, while the charge of cheating was made out only against Saraf.
During the recording of prosecution evidence in the case which started on July 26, 2012, the court had recorded the statements of 95 CBI witnesses, running into 1,056 pages, while the accused examined 12 witnesses in their defence. (PTI)
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