Email about Mukesh Ambani comes up in Rajat Gupta trial

New York: In court documents submitted on Monday, prosecutors said that they want to offer as evidence an April 3, 2008, email from former McKinsey executive Anil Kumar to Rajat Gupta to demonstrate the "close" relationship between Rajat Gupta and Raj Rajaratnam, particularly the "mutual trust" between them.

In the April 2008 email, labelled "urgent", Mr Kumar told Mr Gupta that Rajaratnam wanted him to ask whether "Reliance Industries Limited would be getting into the solar business aggressively because, if so, there would be implications for supplier companies."

According to the email, Mr Kumar said, "When with Mukesh on portfolio question... 2 things to explore: A) Raj wants to know if they will get into the solar biz aggressively and when (there are implications for supplier companies etc)."  The email was sent to Mr Gupta around the time he was scheduled to meet Mr Ambani.

Mr Ambani has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case though.

Mr Kumar has pleaded guilty to insider trading and is cooperating with the prosecutors. He is scheduled to take the witness stand in Mr Gupta's trial, which began on May 21.

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"The proffered testimony of Mr Kumar is relevant to demonstrate the nature of the relationship between Mr Gupta and Mr Rajaratnam", the prosecutors said.

"There was mutual trust between them and their relationship was so close that Mr Rajaratnam was willing to confide in Mr Gupta, the former worldwide head of McKinsey, about his illicit activities with Mr Kumar in violation of McKinsey policies and US tax laws," the prosecutors added.

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US District Judge Jed Rakoff, presiding over the case, has not yet decided on whether to allow the email into evidence.

The government alleges that Mr Kumar received money from 2004 through 2006 in exchange for providing Rajaratnam with material, non-public information.

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Mr Kumar received approximately $125,000 every 3 months in 2004 and 2005, as well as a bonus of one million dollars in late 2006 after providing Mr Rajaratnam with material, non-public information.

During a July 29, 2008 call between Mr Gupta and Mr Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan founder of the Galleon hedge fund told Mr Gupta that he was "giving him [referring to Kumar] a million dollars a year for doing literally nothing."

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In the July 29 call, Mr Rajaratnam also cites the name of Mr Ambani's younger brother and industrialist Anil Ambani as he discusses with Mr Gupta how a telecom fund can be set up.