Prashant Bhushan alleges that CBI ignored Shyam Telecom because of Putin links

New Delhi: In 2007, former telecom minister A Raja publicly set 1 October as the cut-off date for 2G spectrum applications. But then, he arbitrarily advanced it to 25 September, arguing that there were too many applicants for the spectrum. Interestingly, Shyam Telelink Ltd was the last to apply on 25 September. [caption id=“attachment_157052” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Raja publicly set 1 October as the cut-off date for 2G spectrum applications. Reuters”] [/caption] Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan today filed a plea with the Supreme Court, alleging that the Indian investigating agencies have taken Shyam Telelink out of their watch, because the company has links with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Prashant Bhushan, in his plea, seeks the apex court’s direction for the Central Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate A Raja allocating 21 Unified Access Service (UAS) licences to Shyam-Siesta group. “Russia-based Sistema group is promoted by Russian billionaire Mr Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who has a very close relationship with the Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin. He was a part of the delegation when President Putin visited India in January 2007 on a two-day visit. It appears Shyam Sistema has been left out from the investigation because of this relationship”, says Bhushan’s petition. On 25 September 2007, only two companies had applied for the spectrum – Shyam Telelink and Indiabulls. Indiabulls wasn’t a successful applicant, while Shyam Telelink managed to get 21 UAS licences. Interestingly, Shyam Telelink applied for spectrum on 25 September and the very next day (26 September) Sistema announced that it has bought a 10 percent stake in Shyam Telelink for US $ 11.4 million. The spectrum was allocated three months later on 10 January 2008. Bhushan’s plea argues that Shyam Telelink’s net worth was only Rs 156.58 crore, while the Department of Telecom had fixed its net worth at Rs 1,380 crore in all its applications. Against this backdrop, Sistema bought 10 percent in Shyam Telelink the very next day to raise money. However, the equity money wasn’t transferred, Bhushan’s plea adds.