2G scam: Will SC's decision lead to release of Loop-Essar charge sheet?

In a significant twist, the Supreme Court today granted bail to all five corporate honchos accused in the 2G scam. Those given bail include Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, Reliance ADAG’s Gautam Doshi, H Nair and S Pipara.

This is the first time that any of the accused in the 2G scam has been granted bail. Apparently, the Supreme Court took only a few minutes to announce the decision. The court directed release of accused on bail on furnishing two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s decision has paved way for long-awaited charge sheet in the Loop-Essar case. The proposed charge sheet is stuck with the Prime Minister-run Department of Personnel for the past 10 days.

With the five undertrials getting bails, it has become almost certain for Raja, Kanimozhi and the rest to get bail as well. Their bail pleas come up for hearing in the Delhi High Court on 1 December. Against this backdrop, the Department of Personnel is likely to release the Loop-Essar charge sheet file to the CBI.

Meanwhile, Janta Party president Subramanium Swamy said he was “surprised” at the decision to grant bail to the accused. “They are all rich people and in a position to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence,” he told Times Now.

All five accused had been lodged in Tihar Jail for over six months.

Reliance executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are accused of cheating as part of an alleged conspiracy.

Doshi, Pipara and Nair also allegedly created a web of companies through subterfuge in order to conceal the real identity of the holding hands of Swan Telecom.

Vinod Goenka, director, Swan Telecom is also accused of being a part of this larger conspiracy.

The allegation against Chandra and his firm is that they were among the beneficiaries of the 2G scam. Chandra’s firm was given the 2G spectrum licence by former Telecom Minister A Raja despite its ineligibility. His company was also tipped-off about the preponing of cut-off dates for applying for the 2G licence.

CBI has also alleged that after getting the licences, Unitech and co-accused Swan Telecom had sold their equity to foreign companies much before beginning to roll out of their services, thereby making huge profits.

Charge sheet against Loop-Essar stuck at the ministry of personnel

The CBI’s proposed charge sheet against the top bosses of Essar Telecom and Loop Telecom in the 2G scam is apparently ready but is stuck at the ministry of personnel, which operates under the prime minister’s office. It has already been cleared by attorney general GE Vahanvati.

The CBI has to send files for legal opinion to the ministry of law or the attorney general through the ministry of personnel, which is the parent office of the agency. The probe into the Loop-Essar case started six months ago and it has gone through some twists and turns so far. First, the ministry of corporate affairs told the CBI that Loop Telecom was not an associate of Essar, thus creating hurdles for the agency’s line of probe. Then the ministry of law, too, kept changing its opinion on the matter.

The agency appears to have proof that Essar was controlling Loop Telecom when it applied for 2G spectrum. The CBI has already told the Supreme Court that Loop is the ‘alter ego’ of Essar and both conspired to violate the existing telecom rules. Essar created Loop even when it had major stakes in Vodafone. It also relies on the written statement of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former chairman of BPL Communications and now a Rajya Sabha member, that he sold his company through Ravi Ruia to the Khaitans. The proposed charge sheet mentions business tycoons Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan.

“All shareholders of BPL Communications negotiated with representatives of Essar and nobody from the Khaitan group was present in the negotiations,” Chandrasekhar has stated. The CBI also alleges that Anshuman Ruia was one of the directors in BPL Communication. Besides, Essar financed Loop for payment of licence fees and provided bank guarantees to Loop. Essar’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer actively participated in the process of Loop getting the licences.

The proposed charge sheet says Kiran Khaitan, sister of Ravi Ruia, acted as front for Santa Trading Pvt Ltd to buy BPL Communications in July 2005 and renamed it Loop Telecom. Loop Telecom was issued 21 licences in January 2008.

Others who are likely to figure in the charge sheet are A Raja, former DoT legal advisor Santokh Singh and DoT official Sidhartha Behura and Vikas Saraf of the Essar Group, who was on the Loop Telecom board of directors too. The CBI sources say Vikas Saraf was the ‘common’ point between Ruias and Khaitans to carry out the Loop Telecom operations.

It is known that several Essar directors, including Girish Sethi, V Ganesan and Rajiv Sawhney were also working for the Loop Telecom. Interestingly, Girish Sathe, company secretary of Essar Technologies Ltd, was the authorised signatory registered at the portal of the ministry of corporate affairs and his email ID on the portal is common for the Essar Group and the Loop Telecom.

Watch video of the Supreme Court granting bail, in what comes as the first set of bail in the 2G scam.