The CBI has said that the Corporate Affairs Ministry chose to send a "non-committal vague report" on the alleged control of Essar Group over Loop Telecom instead of conveying a definite opinion to Department of Telecommunication (DoT).
The charge sheet filed by CBI, in a special court here, says that the DoT had sought the Corporate Affairs Ministry's opinion whether a case was made out or not on a complaint received by it during 2008-10 alleging that Ms Loop Telecom was Essar group company under "corporate veil" and licenses issued to it were in violation of clause eight to the UASL guidelines.
The clause says no single company, either directly or through its associates, should have substantial equity holding in more than one license company in the same service area for the same service area.
"Investigation has revealed that the Deputy Director (Inspection), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, who examined the matter in detail concluded that the clause eight of the UASL guidelines had been violated. However, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, instead of conveying such a definite opinion to DoT, chose to send a non-committal vague report elaborating the significant control of Essar group over M/s Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd.
"In the light of such a general report on facts, the Department of Telecommunications took a broad view of the matter and decided to wait for any fresh inputs for deciding the matter, even though many a concerned officers of DoT had recommended to issue show cause notices to M/s Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd," the agency said in the charge sheet.
Essar group has denied any wrongdoings and said that it had only 2.13 per cent share in the Loop Telecom, which also has claimed of adhering to the rules.
