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The Reliance Communications Chairman, Mr Anil D Ambani, and the Unitech Wireless Chairman, Mr Sanjay Chandra, on Tuesday sidestepped key questions from the Public Accounts Committee on their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
The two corporate honchos separately told the PAC that they could not provide answers to queries relating to issues that formed part of the CBI charge-sheet. The charge-sheet had named Reliance Telecom among the three companies that had allegedly colluded with the then Communications and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, for getting 2G licences in 2008.
“Mr Anil Ambani was open in his response to many of the questions posed to him by us regarding the CAG report and the CBI charge-sheet. But in some places he said the matter was sub-judice (CBI charge-sheet) and anything he would say here could be used against the company in the court,” Dr Murli Manhohar Joshi, PAC Chairman, told reporters here after the meeting. Mr Ambani's deposition before the PAC lasted over an hour.
Dr Joshi said the PAC had asked Mr Ambani about Reliance Telecom's stakeholding in Swan Telecom and also his role in dual technology. For both these queries, Mr Ambani claimed immunity on the ground that these were issues mentioned in the CBI charge-sheet.
For some queries, Mr Ambani has promised to get back to the committee in the next few days after looking into the relevant documents, Dr Joshi said. In the case of Unitech Wireless, the PAC had raised before Mr Chandra eligibility issues at the time of applying for 2G licences in 2007 and how Unitech had made a sudden foray into telecom without even amending the Memorandum of Association. Mr Chandra is also understood to have taken protection that his name was mentioned in the charge-sheet. However, Dr Joshi stated that the Telenor representative, who had accompanied Mr Chandra, was “very open and did not conceal anything”.
During the day, the PAC also quizzed the Etisalat DB CEO, Mr Atul Jhamb, and Director, Mr Vinod Goenka, besides the STel Director, Mr Srinivasan.
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