2G trial: Cannot recall my statement to CBI, says Sethuraman

“I am unable to recall my statement to the CBI,” said second prosecution witness AN Sethuraman, president of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, setting the tone for his day-long deposition in the 2G trial on Tuesday. He was being cross-examined by a defence lawyer for Swan Telecom promoter, Shahid Balwa.[caption id=“attachment_131942” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“CBI officials holding the 2G scam chargesheet. Reuters”]  [/caption] “I was not personally aware of any board meeting of M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited held on 01.03.2007 or any resolution having been passed therein in connection with telecom services. I am not aware if Hari Nair issued any certificate in respect of M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited about its equity capital,” he said. He added: “I did not tell CBI that ’equity shareholders of M/s Swan Telecom (P) Ltd., holding equity of 10 per cent or more either directly or through its associates do not have substantial equity holding in more than one licencee company in the following service areas for the access services, namely, basic, cellular and unified access service.” He was replying questions with respect to each of the 13 applications (out of 15 since applications for Assam and North-East were withdrawn) for Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses submitted by him on behalf of Swan Telecom in March 2007. In his statement to the CBI, however, it is recorded that “equity shareholders of M/s Swan Telecom (P) Limited do not have substantial equity holding in more than one LICENCEE company.” The statement was recorded by the CBI under Section 161 of the criminal procedure code. It was not signed by Sethuraman and he is not bound by it. Hari Nair, Surendra Pipara and Gautam Doshi are the three top Reliance ADAG officials accused in the 2G case. Anand Subramaniam, assistant vice-president of Reliance Capital, was the first prosecution witness to depose. During his cross-examination by defence lawyers for RK Chandolia, former private secretary to the telecom minister, A Raja, and Asif Balwa, director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Private Limited, Sethuraman said that he was an “accused in one case under Officials Secrets Act." He was referring to the case where he, his uncle V Balasubramanium and Shankar Adawal of the undivided Reliance Group are facing criminal proceedings on charges of possessing confidential government documents under the Official Secrets Act. The Delhi Police had filed the case after recovering photostat copies of four classified documents in 1998. Later in 2002, the CBI took over the case and filed an FIR. The cross-examination was interrupted by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy who told the court that he was yet to receive the certified copies of CBI’s 2G file containing documents with endorsements and signatures of then finance minister P Chidambaram (now home minister). The Special CBI court had a week ago directed the CBI to hand over the copies to Swamy. The agency was directed by the court to hand over the copies to Swamy by Thursday (17 November). Further cross-examination of the witness was deferred to Wednesday.