India Probe Agency: No Proof Unitech Wireless Paid Bribes In Telecom Case - Report
30 August 2011 - 2:21PM
Dow Jones News
India's top federal probe agency has found no evidence to show
that Unitech Wireless Ltd. bribed then-telecom minister Andimuthu
Raja to receive mobile phone licenses in 2008, a Delhi court has
been told, the Press Trust of India news agency reported late
Monday.
"We are conscious of the fact that, so far as Unitech [Wireless]
is concerned, we have found nothing to show any money trail against
them. There is no quid pro quo as far as money exchanging hands is
concerned in relation to Unitech [Wireless]," the report cited
Central Bureau of Investigation counsel U.U. Lalit as saying in
court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is scrutinizing the alleged
rigging of the granting of radio bandwidth and telecom licenses in
2008, which has ballooned into India's biggest-ever corruption
scandal, dubbed the 2G scam.
It is alleged that Raja and his ministry favored some companies
and caused the government a potential revenue loss of INR300
billion ($6.77 billion). The government's top auditor had earlier
estimated the loss to be $40 billion.
The probe agency had named Unitech Wireless Ltd. as one of those
which benefited from the rigging, and then arrested then chairman
Sanjay Chandra. He has denied any wrongdoing.
CBI counsel Lalit spoke while completing his arguments before
special CBI judge O.P. Saini on the framing of charges against 17
high-profile accused in the case, which also includes Unitech
Wireless Tamil Nadu Ltd., a unit of Unitech Wireless Ltd., the
report said.
The probe agency's counsel opposed the plea of Unitech Wireless
Tamil Nadu Pvt. Ltd that it cannot be prosecuted for the alleged
offences of erstwhile eight group companies which got the licenses,
the report said.
Unitech Wireless is a joint venture between Indian real estate
developer Unitech Ltd. (507878.BY) and Norway's Telenor ASA
(TEL.OS)
News agency website: http://www.ptinews.com
--By New Delhi Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 91 11 4356 3300;
djn.in@dowjones.com