2G scam: 5 senior executives could be arrested

New Delhi: Four of nine people chargesheeted for India's biggest ever scam are in jail. They include former Telecom Minister A Raja, who was allegedly the fulcrum of a conspiracy that included some of the country's biggest companies. Now, the other five people accused by the CBI of a scam worth at least 30,000 crores could join Mr Raja.

In 2008, Mr Raja provided sweetheart deals to these firms, offering them licenses for mobile networks and 2G spectrum at throwaway prices. Among those he allegedly colluded with was Swan Telecom, whose promoter, Shahid Balwa, is in jail for sending Mr Raja a 200-core thank you.

Sanjay Chandra, who heads Unitech Wireless, is accused like Mr Balwa of cheating and conspiracy. The CBI in court today opposed Mr Chandra's bail, along with that of Mr Balwa's business partner, Vinod Goenka, and three executives from Anil Ambani's ADAG. (Read: CBI opposes bail plea of corporate honchos)

The judge of a special court set up for the 2G trial will decide by Friday whether these executives should go to Tihar Jail.

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Mr Ambani's senior executives - they include Managing Director Gautam Doshi - are accused of using Swan Telecom as a front to acquire more spectrum for the group's Reliance Telecom than legally permissible. The rules state that a telecom operator cannot own more than 10 per cent in another company that provides phone services in the same area. To get around that, the CBI contends, Mr Doshi and his colleagues organized the funding for Swan so that it could apply as an independent company for a mobile network license.

Reliance Telecom has refuted these allegations and has said that it had sold its stake in Swan before Mr Balwa applied for his license. But now, at least seven Reliance executives have supported the CBI's claims with formal statements. Among them: Ashish Keryakar, Geneal Manager of Reliance Infratech. Mr Keryakar has testified that a board meeting in February 2007 to transfer shares to Swan Telecom never took place, and that his signature was forged on imaginary minutes of the meeting.

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The CBI says that apart from the statements provided by Reliance insiders like Mr Keryakar, they also have bank receipts to back their case. Mr Ambani's group did not offer a comment today on these developments.