2G scam: CBI gives clean chit to Anil Ambani

The CBI, which had said that it was still probing the role of RADAG Chairman Anil Ambani in the 2G scam, has given a clean chit to him in structuring of different companies and transfer of funds relating to Swan Telecom which got a spectrum licence.

"The investigation did not not reveal any evidence either oral or documentary to inculpate Anil Ambani in the structuring of different companies and transfer of funds," the agency said in its status report submitted to the Supreme Court on September 29.

The CBI was filing its response to a note submitted by petitioner Prashant Bhushan in which he had sought to create a "wrong impression" about the fairness and impartial nature of its investigations.

Among other things, Bhushan had alleged that it was inconceivable that three employees could have created a convoluted maze of companies to disguise Swan's real ownership and taken Rs1,000 crore of company money without the approval of the chairman of the Board.

The CBI said at the time of filing of applications to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for Universal Access Service (UAS) licences, the share holders of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd included M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd (91.1 per cent) and M/s Reliance Telecom Ltd (9.1 per cent).

The share holders  M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd included two companies namely M/s Zebra Consultants Pvt Ltd and M/s Parrot Consultant Pvt Ltd. All these three companies were holding each other in an inter-locking structure. Fund invested by M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd in equity of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd were ultimately sourced from M/s ADAE Ventures Pvt Ltd.

On March 2, 2007, M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd further invested Rs95.50 crore in the equity of M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd. These funds were ultimately sourced from M/s Sonata Investments Ltd. Besides this, few small amounts were transferred to M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd from M/s AAA Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd, the CBI said.

The agency said Ambani and his wife Tina were original promoters of M/s AAA Consultancy and M/s ADAR Ventures Pvt Ltd. However, Ambani and his wife had transferred the shareholding of these companies to M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd, M/s Zebra Consultants Pvt Ltd and M/s Parrot Consultant Pvt Ltd during March-April, 2006, almost one year before the applications (of 2.3.2007) when M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd applied to DoT for 13 UAS licences.

As such during the relevant period, when M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd applied for UAS licences and the funds were transferred from these companies to M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd, Ambani and his wife were neither shareholders in these companies nor were associated with the management of these companies.

 On another issue related to a statement by an ICICI bank official that a cheque of above Rs 10 crore required an approval of Ambani or his wife, the CBI said the "observation" was a distorted one as the bank official's statement mentioned that Ambani and his wife were signatories to the bank accounts of M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd, M/s Swan Consultants Pvt Ltd, M/s ADAE Ventures Pvt Ltd and M/s AAA Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd since incorporation of these companies till relevant period for amounts more than Rs.10 crore.

"It does not not talk about the authority competent to approve those transactions in the company. It has been submitted in above paras that the Ambani couple had exited from these companies before the relevant period and so the question of approving these transactions is not not tenable.

"The investigation has revealed that they had not not issued any bank instrument including cheque, RTGS advice, transfer request, etc. which is relevant in the case. The payment of Rs95.51 crore by M/s Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd to M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd has been made through 10 different advices each for Rs. 10 crore or less. These advices were signed by accused Gautam Doshi and Hari Nair and are part of records relied upon in the case," the CBI said in its status report.