New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has accepted that the Sahara Group tried to intervene in the investigations into the country's largest scam, referred to as the "2G spectrum scam." A contempt of court notice has been issued to the company's CEO, Subrato Roy.
The Enforcement Directorate which is studying alleged violations of foreign exchange rules and money-laundering by companies linked to the scam says the officer who issued a summons notice to Mr Roy was pressured, and threatened by Sahara.
There is no doubt about the threat to the investigating officer, said the court today. It has asked the Sahara Group to respond to the allegations within six weeks.
The Enforcement Directorate complained to the Supreme Court that Sahara threatened to use its media arm to run negative stories that would damage the credibility of the officer in question.
Sahara, according to officials, may have been financially linked through a 150-crore loan to Swan Telecom, which has been listed as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 2G scam. In 2008, Swan and other companies allegedly conspired with then Telecom Minister A Raja to land licenses for mobile networks at throwaway prices. Swan's promoters - Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa - are in jail; so is Mr Raja.