Will abide by Supreme Court order: CBI director Ranjit Sinha

PTI | Nov 20, 2014, 07.40 PM IST

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• 12 days before his retirement, SC removes CBI director Ranjit Sinha from 2G case

NEW DELHI: Beleaguered CBI chief Ranjit Sinha on Thursday said he will abide by the Supreme Court order directing him to recuse himself from the 2G telecom scam probe and denied having named any officer as mole before the apex court.

Sinha, who had to face Supreme Court's ire today which asked him to keep away from the 2G telecom scam probe, said he would not be filing any review petition as the order was from the bench headed by the Chief Justice.

When asked about naming DIG Santosh Rastogi as a possible 'mole' who leaked the documents to activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, CBI director said that he had not named anyone.

"I don't know what are you talking about but I have not named any officer as mole or anything," Sinha told reporters at the agency headquarters here.

Sinha said he was waiting for the Supreme Court order and decide the future course of action on that basis, as the trial was still going on.

With just 12 days left in his retirement, Sinha today suffered a major blow when the Supreme Court removed him from the 2G scam case, saying the allegations against him of protecting some accused appears to be "prima facie credible".

The apex court, in an unprecedented order, handed over the case to the senior-most officer after Sinha in the 2G scam investigating team.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, however, refused to pass an elaborate order on the issue saying that it would "tarnish" the "image and reputation" of the premier agency. 

 

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Sid Harth • 1 min ago

Mumbai: Late politician Pramod Mahajan’s brother Pravin, who is undergoing a life-term for killing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, has come out with a tell-all book. The book entitled My Album -- around 175 pages -- will be published in Marathi and English soon. A brief 15-page extract of the book is available with IANS. In the book, which Pravin said was inspired within the confines of the prison walls where he is currently lodged, he has dwelt upon several aspects of his elder brother's personal, professional and political life, his principles, his political associates, etc, many of them not exactly laudatory. SECRETS OF THE PAST: BJP leader Pramod Mahjan was his party's chief political strategist.

Sid Harth • 4 mins ago

Later in the day, ADAG sent a statement saying, "There is no concept known in Indian law of a witness being declared 'hostile'. All the term signifies is that, in the opinion of the prosecutor, and as reflected from the difference between the examination in court and the alleged statement under 161, there is a contradiction, and the witness, though called by the prosecution, has not supported the prosecution case. The legal reality is that the job of a witness is to speak the truth, and not to necessarily conform to the unsigned statement that has been ascribed to him by the CBI."

Sid Harth • 4 mins ago

During his cross examination by CBI prosecutor K K Goel, Ambani said, "I remained present in the CBI office for many hours and I do not recall any statement being recorded and there were a number of people present during my presence." He also said he didn't have knowledge about the various firms -- AAA Consultancy Services (P) Limited, ADAE Ventures (P) Limited, Parrot Consultants (P) Limited, Tiger Traders (P) Limited, Zebra Consultants (P) Limited, Swan Telecom (P) Limited and Swan Consultants (P) Limited -- which were alleged to be associate companies of R-ADAG. However, earlier in the day, Ambani had said, "AAA Consultancy Services (P) Limited is part of Reliance group." He was also shown minutes of various board meetings of several firms, including AAA Consultancy Services (P) Ltd, by CBI and to most of the questions put to him by the prosecutor, he said he did not recall the events now. "It is wrong to suggest that it was in my knowledge that for applying for more service areas, the company (STPL) required higher paid-up capital and higher net worth. It is wrong to suggest that for this purpose RTL purchased further preference shares of Re 1 at a premium of Rs 999 from STPL and this was done to maintain net worth criteria," Ambani said, adding that these facts were never discussed by ADAG employee Gautam Doshi with him. Ambani said that as chairman of the group, he used to meet telecom ministers, including the late Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie, Dayanidhi Maran and A Raja. He said he had also met current telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

Sid Harth • 4 mins ago

His replies prompted special public prosecutor U U Lalit to submit that Ambani was "resiling" from his previous statement and he pleaded that he may be allowed to cross-examine him. "Heard and allowed," said Special CBI Judge O P Saini, allowing CBI's plea. Ambani's company Reliance Telecom Ltd and three of his group executives are accused in the case. During his four-hour long deposition, Ambani denied that Swan Telecom was a front company of his group R-ADAG for securing the precious radio waves. He said it was not in his knowledge that Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) had applied for unified access service licences (UASL) in 2007. Ambani also did not "recall" if Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL), an accused firm, had made an investment in STPL, which is also facing trial in the case along with its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka. "It is wrong to suggest that STPL was a shell company of my group. It is wrong to suggest that it was in my knowledge that STPL had applied for UAS licence for J&K service area in 2007. I cannot recall if RTL had made an investment to the extent of 9.9% in equity shares in STPL," he told the court.

Sid Harth • 5 mins ago

Ambani's replies prompted the judge to say, "Sir, you are forgetting too much. Try to recollect something." On another occasion, the judge observed, "This is an advice to you. It can go against you that you don't know even the names of your companies. So be careful." While Ambani conceded that he had visited the CBI office in connection with the case in February 2011, he maintained that he did not hand over any note to the CBI officer even as the CBI confronted him with his statement that it claimed was recorded under Section 161 CrPC by the agency. He said he didn't recall his statement being recorded. "I am not aware of any company by the name of Swan Telecom Limited. Reliance Telecom Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Communication Limited and I am a non-executive chairman of the latter company. Earlier, I was on the board of Reliance Telecom Limited, but I do not recall the period. I am unable to recall if I was on the board of this company in 2007," Ambani told the court.

Sid Harth • 5 mins ago

Anil Ambani tells court he does not recall statement to CBI Smriti Singh, TNN | Aug 23, 2013, 12.56AM IST inShare Anil Ambani tells court he does not recall statement to CBI An ADAG spokesman emphasized that Ambani had not turned "hostile" and said, "There is no concept in Indian law of a witness being declared hostile". NEW DELHI: Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, who on Thursday had to appear in a special CBI court as a prosecution witness, was described by the public prosecutor as having "resiled" from the statement he allegedly made to the CBI in 2011 in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. (The dictionary meaning of 'resiling' is "abandoning a position or course of action".) An ADAG spokesman emphasized that Ambani had not turned "hostile" and said, "There is no concept in Indian law of a witness being declared hostile". This was in response to people using the non-legal, common parlance to say the witness had turned "hostile". Ambani kept saying "I am not aware" and "I don't recall" while responding to a series of questions posed by the prosecution on the existence of companies, board meetings he attended and transfer of his shares to companies such as Tiger Traders, Swan Consultants and Parrot Consultants.

Sid Harth • 6 mins ago

2007. Retrieved 19 December 2007. Pravin Mahajan dies

Sid Harth • 8 mins ago

The specialist who will treat Mahajan - Rediff News 23 April 2006 "Pramod Mahajan passes away". Rediff. 2006. Retrieved 3 May 2006. State funeral given to Pramod Mahajan "Attack on Pramod premeditated: Police". NDTV. Retrieved 24 April 2006. Chargesheet changed from Attempt to Murder to Murder "Pravin gets life term for killing Pramod Mahajan". Indiatimes. 18 December

Sid Harth • 8 mins ago

"Shourie warns telecom players". Tribune India. 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "Shivani Bhatnagar Case". Rediff India. 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2006. "A sordid affair". Frontline. 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2006. "We'll have a 4-0 lead". Rediff. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006. "Hindutva not to be poll issue: BJP". Rediff. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006. "The Assembly elections 2003 homepage". Rediffdotcom. 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2006. "Mahajan accepts blame for BJP debacle". Rediff. 2004. Retrieved 1 May 2006. "the shadowy member of BJP". Ganpati News. 2010. "All in the Family". Indian Express. 2005.

Sid Harth • 8 mins ago

References Wikinews has related news: BJP leader Pramod Mahajan dies in Mumbai "Mahajan, Shri Pramod. Biographical sketch". Rajya Sabha. Archived from the original on 2006-04-30. Retrieved 2006-09-02. 0, Soutik (30 December 2005). "What next for the BJP?". BBC News. Retrieved 2005-09-02. India: A Portrait Priya Sahgal (8 May 2006). "Flair and flamboyance - Pramod Mahajan: Fastest rising leader of his generation in BJP". India Today. Retrieved 2014-10-07. "List of Rajya Sabha members". Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Retrieved 2009-12-30. "'Our telecom services don't match world standards yet'". Rediff. 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "National Telecom Policy, 1994". Telecom regulatory authority of India. 1994. Archived from the original on 20 February 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "How telecom wires got so tangled". The Hindu Business Line. 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "Jagmohan wags a warning finger at telecom companies". Rediff. 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "A man slighted". Rediff. 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "National Telecom Policy, 1999". Telecom regulatory authority of India. 1999. Archived from the original on 8 April 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "The telecom tangle". Hindu on the net. 1999. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "Seeking accountability". Frontline on the net. 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2006. "Arun Shourie hits back at Mahajan". Tribune India. 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2006.

Sid Harth • 12 mins ago

Death On the morning of 22 April 2006, Mahajan's estranged younger brother, Pravin shot him with his licensed .32 Browning pistol inside the former's apartment in Mumbai following a dispute. Four bullets were fired. The first missed Mahajan, but the other three were lodged in his liver and pancreas, damaging several internal organs. Mahajan was taken to the Hinduja Hospital where he was operated upon. One of the world's foremost liver specialists, Dr. Mohamed Rela flew in from London to treat him.[25] After struggling for his life for 13 days, Mahajan suffered from a cardiac arrest and died on 3 May 2006 at 4:10 pm IST.[26] He was given a state funeral [27] at the Shivaji Park crematorium in Dadar, Mumbai on 4 May 2006. Pravin surrendered at the Worli Police Station in Mumbai after the shooting. The police claimed that it was a premeditated attack born out of resentment built up over a long time. Pravin accused his brother of "ignoring and humiliating him, and not giving him his due". He also felt neglected and suffered from an inferiority complex because he was the poorer younger brother of a much famous elder brother.[28] Pravin was charged with murder under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).[29] However, Pravin told the court that he had not shot bullets at his brother. On 18 December 2007, Pravin was sentenced to life imprisonment.[30] Pravin Mahajan died on 3 March 2010 due to brain haemorrhage. He was on parole when he suffered the stroke and was hospitalised.[31][32]

Sid Harth • 12 mins ago

Controversies Pramod Mahajan has always been surrounded by controversy both during and after his lifetime. He was seen as being close to various lobbyists and corporate houses and there were numerous allegations of financial irregularities during his tenure in the Ministry of Telecom. One of the foremost allegations is his blatant favoring of the Reliance Group in exchange for alleged underhand financial dealings. A relative of Sudanshu Mittal, a close associate of Pramod Mahajan and his own son-in-law were found to have been one of the beneficiaries benami shares of Reliance Industries being transferred into shell companies.[23] Further, In 2006, Reliance Infocomm offered one crore shares to three companies — Prerna Auto, Fairever Traders and Softnet — at the rate of Re 1 a share. These three companies are owned by Ashish Deora, the business partner of Rahul Mahajan (TV personality), Pramod Mahajan's son.[24] The gifting of these shares and allegations of quid pro quo gained prominence in the light of the favouritism shown towards Reliance by Pramod Mahajan when he was the minister for Telecommunications.

Sid Harth • 13 mins ago

Allegations Mahajan was accused of orchestrating the murder of former Indian Express journalist Shivani Bhatnagar by Madhu Sharma, the wife of IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma who was an accused in the murder and in police custody.[17] Bhatnagar had been murdered on 23 January 1999. The investigation had gone on for three years and was out of the media spotlight till Sharma's arrest.[18] His motive for the murder, according to the Delhi Police, was that he had fathered Bhatnagar's child and was under pressure from her to marry him. Madhu made statements in the press claiming that it was in fact Mahajan who had the affair and was the actual father. She challenged him to a DNA test. Mahajan agreed to take the test but eventually did not as the Delhi Police dismissed Sharma's claim as an emotional outburst as she was unable to provide any concrete evidence in support of her charges.

Sid Harth • 14 mins ago

Economic liberalisation was supposed to free business from the clutches of the neta/babu class. Instead, either businessmen have been forced to make them their partners or have been displaced by them. Until recently, the media was kept happy with ad campaigns and equity investment directed by this nexus. It is probably the utter brazenness of their dealings that have finally goaded a few good men to stand up and do something. To this end, the publication of the Radia tapes, which gave ordinary Indians a first-hand audio peep into the operations of the neta-babu-fixer-industrialist class, is a national service by this magazine. It will hopefully provoke a whole generation of Indians, whose fat salaries give them an international lifestyle, to wake up and realise what is going on. Hopefully, a few thousand of them will decide to support those individuals who are fighting dogged battles all over the country to draw attention to this plunder of the nation from within. The author is the Managing Editor of Moneylife Magazine

Sid Harth • 14 mins ago

The hotline Pramod Mahajan was high on Reliance Infocomm’s speed-dial list. (Photograph by Atul Loke) Their inspiration is probably a Maratha heavyweight leader seen as India’s biggest ‘venture capitalist’ (several top companies today were backed by him) and has vast interests in realty, agro industries, media, sports, food, aviation and beverages. He uses the market so effectively that in the run-up to the last election, key party functionaries got stock tips in lieu of cash, with specific instructions on when to book profits. It gave them clean, tax-paid investment income thanks to easy market manipulation. Small, honest traders suffer. Deliberately vague rules are used to haul them up on trumped-up charges. Even as the corruption, cooption game is played out, small and honest businessmen face daily torture. The government has hit upon a strategy of keeping statute and regulations deliberately vague so that even the cleanest of businesses can be hauled over the coals, at will, on trumped-up charges. Pratap Bhanu Mehta put it best in Indian Express: “Our law enforcement institutions are beginning to resemble an indiscriminate melange of arbitrary powers, randomly exercised. What is frightening about the Indian state is that evidence has no sanctity, arbitrary leaks have become the norm, officers routinely provide a running commentary to plant insinuations, any line of investigation is accompanied by indiscriminate fishing expeditions, and no one seems to acknowledge that citizens have basic rights”.

Sid Harth • 15 mins ago

Brisk trade Yediyurappa and sons had a well-trodden path before them Remember that Pramod Mahajan, a former telecom minister, was investigated for the concessions granted to Reliance Infocomm Ltd? He started another trend as well. The nasty war between the Ambani siblings revealed that Mahajan had acquired a one per cent stake in the company for twisting the rules. This scam too has been quietly buried. Although Mahajan’s share allotment was subsequently cancelled, Ashish Deora, the family friend who was the alleged ‘front’, was gifted the optic fibre network laid by Reliance Infocomm worth several hundred crores. It is another matter that they failed to build a successful business out of it. An income-tax investigation into this gift was also buried. Years later, an industrialist told me that Mukesh Ambani did a great disservice by offering Mahajan a stake, instead of money. “Since then, every two-bit politician or bureaucrat who can block project clearances is demanding a stake in businesses,” he said. Meanwhile, politicians have cornered the most lucrative segments of India’s economy—education, healthcare, realty and mining rights—as their own turf. In Maharashtra, the 2010 assembly elections had builder-politicians contesting in 40 constituencies. Clearly, political power is key to this business. Leaders like Raj Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray, Manohar Joshi, Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Nitin Sardesai are all builders, many have ‘links’ with multiple builders. Several others (D.Y. Patil, Padamsinh Patil, Manohar Joshi, Chhagan Bhujbal) are in the education and hospitality business. Slum redevelopment, tinkering with Floor Space Index rules and environmental clearances are the biggest cash cows, and have made dollar billionaires out of many politicians and the businessmen who front for them. Is it any surprise that Karnataka CM B.S. Yediyurappa’s son said it was a convention for elected representatives to be allotted land by the state?

Sid Harth • 15 mins ago

The 1992 scam set the stage for Ketan Parekh’s manipulations in 1999-2000. The difference was that Ketan, once a groupie of Harshad Mehta, openly flaunted his business and political connections and partied with the best of Bollywood. He still made the same cardinal mistake of believing that his powerful connections had made him invincible. When the bubble burst and the stockmarket collapse also took down a couple of banks, a second JPC was set up. The dubious genius of Pramod Mahajan was evident in its composition, which ensured that nobody but Ketan Parekh was truly indicted. It is another matter that although he has been banned from the market for 14 years, the man continues to manipulate shares with impunity even though the Intelligence Bureau’s monthly reports detail the specific stocks he is manipulating, as well as his co-conspirators. Sadly, all this interest from business and politicians hasn’t strengthened the capital market. It remains narrow, shallow and illiquid. Official reports now confirm that India’s investor population has shrunk to a third of the 20 million in 1992. This explains why stock prices are so easily manipulated and controlled by a bunch of anonymous moneybags masquerading as institutional investors. Even among Indian institutions, goings-on at the mammoth Life Insurance Corporation and its subsidiary exposed what is an open secret in the market—that government officials loot institutions under their charge to prop up stock prices or lend money to companies under political pressure and for petty gratification. This scam is on its way to a quiet burial without anyone asking why so many former lic top honchos, including one who was a member of the Securities Appellate Tribunal, were on the board of an unknown brokerage firm called Money Matters.

Sid Harth • 16 mins ago

In comparison, the Harshad Mehta scam of 1992 really burst on an age of innocence. The outrage in Parliament over my report on how Mehta had stolen Rs 500 crore from the State Bank of India was fairly genuine. Politicians found it hard to believe that one upstart trader could amass such stupendous wealth from the capital market in so short a time. The Reserve Bank had even called a press conference to deny my subsequent report that the scam was worth around Rs 5,000 crore. Perception changed so rapidly that a few months later, people found it hard to believe Harshad Mehta’s claim that he had bribed P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then prime minister, with a paltry Rs 1 crore. If the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that investigated the Harshad Mehta scam served any purpose at all, it was to educate our neta-babu class about the immense potential of the capital market as a vehicle to amass wealth, launder black money and convert it into legitimate investment income. After all, one had to hold shares for only a year and, lo and behold, it emerged through the system as tax-free earnings. This education coincided with the entry of Foreign Institutional Investment (FIIS) into India and provided the perfect opportunity for ‘round-tripping’ of money. Black money left India through hawala channels and returned as super-clean ‘foreign investment’. Is it surprising that demands to disallow non-transparent fii sub-accounts have always been ignored? Or, that despite several known cases of abuse, including the recent investigation involving the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) with Union Bank of Switzerland and others, the regulator merely tinkers with the rules?

Sid Harth • 16 mins ago

When we discuss an isolated issue, say 2G scam, we almost forget the past similar or much larger scandals. Not that it matters to me. i have seen them all. National / Opinion Magazine | Jan 10, 2011 ‘I bribed the PM’ Harshad Mehta with the ‘evidence’ before the media—Mumbai, 1992 Corruption The Mutant Superbug A liberal trade wind laid rules, set benchmarks for today’s systemic looting Sucheta Dalal Two decades after economic liberalisation, we are the world’s second-fastest growing economy. Decades of scarcity of everything, from telephone and gas connections to foreign exchange, are gone. Isn’t it ironic then that on the 20th anniversary of the end of licence raj, what has grabbed the nation’s interest is the systematic, large-scale plunder of national resources through ever-larger scams? Each scam was improved on by the following one in fine larceny. Our netas and businessmen, with the intermediation of clever lobbyists and venal babus, dreamt up new ways to skim the cream off every deal, contract, licence, statutory clearance or mining site while at the same time evading and suppressing any inquiry or media attention. Ramalinga Raju even ruined Satyam by siphoning off money to fund the ambitious Maytas Infrastructure and allegedly to bribe politicians. In the past decade, corruption in infrastructure contracts and land deals has raged unchecked because those in power began to share the loot with anyone who was likely to object. Throwing crumbs at opposition politicians to buy their silence and rewarding babus through allotment of undeserved flats became a regular feature. “A flat for a signature” seems to have been the policy in the Adarsh Housing Society scandal, where almost every bureaucrat whose concurrence or clearance was crucial (for denotification and conversion of user status) has been allocated super-expensive real estate in Mumbai.

Sid Harth • 11166

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• 29 mins ago

So be careful.” While Ambani conceded that he had visited the CBI office in connection with the case in February 2011, he maintained that he did not hand over any note to the CBI officer even as the CBI confronted him with his statement that it claimed was recorded under Section 161 CrPC by the agency. He said he didn’t recall his statement being recorded. “I am not aware of any company by the name of Swan Telecom Limited. Reliance Telecom Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Communication Limited and I am a non-executive chairman of the latter company. Earlier, I was on the board of Reliance Telecom Limited, but I do not recall the period. I am unable to recall if I was on the board of this company in 2007,” Ambani told the court. His replies prompted special public prosecutor U U Lalit to submit that Ambani was “resiling” from his previous statement and he pleaded that he may be allowed to cross-examine him. “Heard and allowed,” said Special CBI Judge O P Saini, allowing CBI’s plea. Ambani’s company Reliance Telecom Ltd and three of his group executives are accused in the case. During his four-hour long deposition, Ambani denied that Swan Telecom was a front company of his group R-ADAG for securing the precious radio waves. He said it was not in his knowledge that Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) had applied for unified access service licences (UASL) in 2007. Ambani also did not “recall” if Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL), an accused firm, had made an investment in STPL, which is also facing trial in the case along with its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 29 mins ago

Sid Harth (USA)
Anil Ambani tells court he does not recall statement to CBI Smriti Singh, TNN | Aug 23, 2013, 12.56AM IST Anil Ambani tells court he does not recall statement to CBI An ADAG spokesman emphasized that Ambani had not turned “hostile” and said, “There is no concept in Indian law of a witness being declared hostile”. NEW DELHI: Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani, who on Thursday had to appear in a special CBI court as a prosecution witness, was described by the public prosecutor as having “resiled” from the statement he allegedly made to the CBI in 2011 in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. (The dictionary meaning of ‘resiling’ is “abandoning a position or course of action”.) An ADAG spokesman emphasized that Ambani had not turned “hostile” and said, “There is no concept in Indian law of a witness being declared hostile”. This was in response to people using the non-legal, common parlance to say the witness had turned “hostile”. Ambani kept saying “I am not aware” and “I don’t recall” while responding to a series of questions posed by the prosecution on the existence of companies, board meetings he attended and transfer of his shares to companies such as Tiger Traders, Swan Consultants and Parrot Consultants. Ambani’s replies prompted the judge to say, “Sir, you are forgetting too much. Try to recollect something.” On another occasion, the judge observed, “This is an advice to you. It can go against you that you don’t know even the names of your companies.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 31 mins ago

Sid Harth (USA)
Oct 22, 2011, 01.43 AM IST | Source: CNBC-TV18 2G saga: Court to frame charges against 17 accused tomorrow The 2G saga will reach an important milestone on Saturday, when OP Saini, the special judge in the CBI trial court, reads out the charges against the 17 accused. …and I am Sid Harth

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 31 mins ago

RTL has moved the Supreme Court against the trial courtâ s order as the apex court bench, headed by Justice G S Singhvi, had earlier restrained all other courts, including high court, from entertaining any plea arising out of the 2G scam case. The trial court had allowed CBIâ s plea that the testimony of Anil and Tina Ambani may throw light on alleged investment of over Rs 990 crore by his group companies in Swan Telecom, facing trial in the case along with its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka. It had said CBIâ s plea to summon Anil Ambani, Tina and 11 others as prosecution witnesses was essential for arriving at a just decision in the case. Testimony of Anil and Tina is required to prove the facts â pertaining to incorporation of shell companies as some of the witnesses examined earlier have not been able to do so,â the trial court had said. RADAGâ s company RTL is an accused in the case. Three top Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are also facing trial in the case. The agency had alleged RTL used Swan Telecom, an ineligible firm, as its front company to get 2G licenses and the radio waves. Source:…and I am Sid Harth

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 32 mins ago

It said the order is contrary to law and constitutional provision. Contesting the July 19 order of the special CBI court summoning the Ambani couple to depose as CBI witnesses, RTL also questioned the decision to call new witnesses at such a later stage of trial. RTL, one of the three companies accused in the case, has challenged the order of special CBI Judge O P Saini who made the ADAG Chairman and his wife prosecution witnesses on CBIâ s plea that their testimony would throw light on ADAGâ s companies alleged investment of over Rs 990 crore relating to 2G spectrum in Swan Telecom.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 33 mins ago

â Observations and recommendationsâ , it makes serious allegations of impropriety, undue haste and causing losses against ex-Telecom Minister Mr. Arun Shourie and ex-Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, both of the BJP. Vajpayee attacked In section 10.9â 10.11, the report takes its investigation towards the NDA-led New Telecom Policy 99 and the migration package which moved the telecom industry from licence fee to revenue share regime while replacing the duopoly structure to open competition. This occurred when Mr. Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of the NDA government from March 1998 till 2004 across two terms, including a 13-month government, which lasted till mid-1999. Heaping criticism over the process, the report questions the timing of the migration package. It states, â The committee, however, take[s] note of the fact that at the time of approval and implementation of the migration package, a care taker government was in place following dissolution of Parliament.â The report states that both the President of India and later the Election Commission in August 1999, raised concerns over the undue haste in implementing the migration package and its timing. The report states that Mr. Vajpayee himself wrote in a letter to the President of India, â indicating that the policy decision taken in this regard was taken well before the dissolution of Parliament and justified its need for its urgent impl

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 34 mins ago

The report states that Mr. Vajpayee himself wrote in a letter to the President of India, â indicating that the policy decision taken in this regard was taken well before the dissolution of Parliament and justified its need for its urgent implantation, brooking no delayâ . While the report admits that the Delhi High Court permitted the migration package, subject to its approval by the Council of Ministers and the 13th Lok Sabha, the report concludes, â it is evident that the government of the day acted in haste and it would have been wiser on the part of the government to hold back the Cabinet decision till the constitution of the new governmentâ . The draft report then goes on to calculate losses and revenue foregone to state that the NDA government had foregone revenue â To the tune of Rs. 42,080.34 crores in the course of offering the migration package of NTP 1999â . Shourie favoured corporates The report then turns its guns on Arun Shourie regarding the implementation of the first-come-first-served policy and grant of new UAS licences in 2003 â two decisions that were made by Mr. Shourie as the then Telecom Minister. Slamming Mr Shourieâ s decision, the report says â The Committee are, however, concerned to point out that the decision to adopt first-come-first-served criteria for issue of UAS licences was taken in undue haste and was not based on comprehensive deliberation that merited issue in question.â The committee also accuses the DoT and Mr. Shourieâ s Telecom Secretary, Vinod Vaish, for acting in an opaque manner, by holding them â at faultâ for not publishing the adopted procedure which is against the â canon of fairness and transparency while implementing the UASL regimeâ . Many of the decisions under attack in the report were approved by Mr. Shourie. The Hindu was unable to reach Mr. Shourie for his comments despite multiple attempts. Jaswant Singh caused loss The report does not spare a member of the JPC. Jaswant Singh who was the Finance Minister in the NDA government from April 2002 till May 2004, also stands accused as his Ministry, according to the report, working with the DoT, and contrary to the Cabinet decision of October 2003 that found no case to give a compensation package to cellular operators based on the perception that their finances were strained, reduced the licence fee. The report calculates the loss to the exchequer by such an action of the Finance Ministry at Rs. 968 crore for the first 4 years and Rs. 885 crore per annum thereafter. Source: Hindu …and I am Sid Harth

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 34 mins ago

Sid Harth (USA)
NEW DELHI, April 20, 2013 Updated: April 20, 2013 04:08 IST PM innocent, but Vajpayee caused Rs. 42,080 crore loss: JPC report Shalini Singh The report also makes serious allegations against Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh The JPC investigating the Rs.1.76 lakh crore 2G scam has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and disputed the CAG 2G loss figure, but at the same time accused former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee of being directly involved in decisions taken â in hasteâ and â despite objections from various quartersâ , which caused a loss of revenue â to the tune of Rs. 42,080.34 crores.â According to BJP leader Arun Jaitley, the attempt to drag in Mr. Vajpayee for causing a Rs. 43,000-crore revenue loss while overlooking the direct role of the current PM, borders on the absurd. Speaking to The Hindu, he said, â This notion is completely contrary to facts, common sense and economic principles. A properly recorded dissent will make history, while this report will soon be relegated to its rightful place â the dustbin.â The reportâ s tirade against the BJP government and its ministers doesnâ t stop here. Devoting nearly 30 of the 75 pages to this in Chapter 10 â Observations and recommendationsâ , it makes serious allegations of impropriety, undue haste and causing losses against ex-Telecom Minister Mr. Arun Shourie and ex-Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, both of the BJP. Vajpayee attacked In section 10.9â 10.11, the report takes its investigation towards the NDA-led New Telecom Policy 99 and the migration package which moved the telecom industry from licence fee to revenue share regime while replacing the duopoly structure to open competition. This occurred when Mr. Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of the NDA government from March 1998 till 2004 across two terms, including a 13-month government, which lasted till mid-1999. Heaping criticism over the process, the report questions the timing of the migration package. It states, â The committee, however, take[s] note of the fact that at the time of approval and implementation of the migration package, a care taker government was in place following dissolution of Parliament.â The report states that both the President of India and later the Election Commission in August 1999, raised concerns over the undue haste in implementing the migration package and its timing.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 35 mins ago

Sid Harth (USA)
CBI probes Atal-led NDA’s 2G allocation, some files go missing Agencies : New Delhi, Tue Feb 07 2012, 18:28 hrs The CBI has intensified its probe in 2G spectrum allocation during BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA regime when the late Pramod Mahajan was the Telecom minister and asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to hand over licence agreements with all telecom providers between 2001 and 2007. The DoT, in response to the CBI’s plea, provided the licence agreements that the department had with Bharti Telenet Limited for Delhi service, Aircel for Delhi and Mumbai. However, files pertaining to the DoT’s agreement with Hutchison and Sterling Cellular (now known as Vodafone-Essar Mobile service), BPL and Idea could not be traced immediately and efforts were on to locate them, official sources said today. In a letter to CBI’s deputy superintendent of police R A Yadav, an under secretary in the DoT said, “Efforts are underway to locate the remaining licence agreements as requested and the same would be furnished shortly.” After booking former Telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in two separate cases, CBI in November last year had registered a case against former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh, the then deputy director general (Value Added Services) J R Gupta and two telecom service providers Airtel and Vodafone for alleged irregularities in grant of additional spectrum. In its FIR, the CBI had alleged there was a loss of Rs 508 crore to the state exchequer during 2001-07. “The then minister for Telecom and Communication (Pramod Mahajan) has been excluded since he expired,” CBI had said in a statement but accused him of being a part of a criminal conspiracy to allocate the additional spectrum in a “hurried” manner. BJP’s Mahajan was the Telecom minister during 2001-03. UPA-I came to power in 2004. Copyright © 2014 The Indian Express ltd. All Rights Reserved …and I am Sid Harth

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• 36 mins ago

(CBI chief Ranjit Sinha)

But the confident demeanour could not fully mask the anxiety in CBI circles over what the court might do. In fact, sources indicated that a discreet inquiry was already underway to catalogue those who visited Sinha at his official residence and to find out how the details got leaked.

Sources said CBI staffers are responsible for maintaining only two registers — one which records the movements of the CBI chief and the other dealing with the movements of agency personnel.

Agency staffers are not concerned with recording the visits of people who are not with the CBI. The inquiry may help shed light on how records were being maintained and by whom of the purported visits of influential people without CBI staffers getting a whiff. However, it is the Supreme Court on which all attention will be focused on Thursday.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 36 mins ago

He also questioned the veracity of the diary produced by Bhushan in court. “Also, these allegations are based on a completely unverified document and a document which is not even maintained in the usual course. So nothing can be commented on them. If this document has been provided to Mr Bhushan, then what is the sanctity of the document. There is no such file or register available at the residence of the CBI director,” he added.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 37 mins ago

When contacted, Vikas Singh said that while he would not like to comment on a matter which was sub-judice, there was no impropriety involved in the CBI chief meeting the accused. “CBI director being the supervisory officer has to meet everybody. All investigating officers and supervisory officers meet the accused. Generally speaking, if the accused is on bail, he has every right to go and meet supervisory officer and tell if he feels the trial is not being conducted fairly,” he said.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 37 mins ago

Bhushan had cited the report about Sinha’s visitors to substantiate the charge that the CBI chief had, if unsuccessfully, tried to dilute 2G scam-related charges against R-ADAG. The alleged attempt to let R-ADAG off the hook could not succeed because of the opposition from U U Lalit, the Supreme Court-appointed special public prosecutor who is now an SC judge.

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 37 mins ago

NEW DELHI: CBI chief Ranjit Sinha on Wednesday acknowledged that he had met executives of R-ADAG whose group company Reliance Telecom is an accused in the 2G scam case, fanning suspense over what the Supreme Court might do on Thursday when it takes up the matter.”I have met officials of Reliance but have I shown favour to anyone?” a TV channel quoted Sinha as saying.The matter was raised in the Supreme Court on Monday by activist-advocate Prashant Bhushan following reports in media, citing the visitors’ diary purportedly maintained at the CBI chief’s official residence, that Sinha hosted officials of the Anil Ambani-promoted group about 50 times.Sinha disputed the reported frequency of his interactions with two senior R-ADAG functionaries. He maintained that he had met executives of Anil Ambani’s group only “once or twice”, even as sources in the agency said the CBI chief’s official residence also served as a camp office from where he was supposed to discharge his official duties.The statement coincided with reports that the visitors’ diary showed that Moin Qureshi, a controversial meat exporter who is being investigated by the income tax department for allegedly running a money laundering racket, visited Sinha 90 times over a period of 15 months or so.Although Sinha’s lawyer Vikas Singh had on Monday dismissed Bhushan’s charge as an attempt to damage CBI’s credibility, the matter became curiouser on Wednesday because of Sinha’s ambiguity on the authenticity of the diary at his official residence. He called the diary, maintained by security guards, a fake, but also conceded that some of the entries were correct.READ ALSO: CBI chief Ranjit Sinha met 2G scam accused, petitioner says

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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 38 mins ago

2G, coal scam accused among CBI chief’s ‘visitors’
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Sid Harth • 11166

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• 39 mins ago

Of 2G, ADAG, CBI, NDA, Slugfest
September 4, 2014 elcidharthEdit
Met ADAG officials but didn’t grant any favours: CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

TNN | Sep 4, 2014, 01.06 AM IST