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The Chief Executive Officer of Essar Group, Mr Prashant Ruia, on Thursday appeared before the CBI for clarifying Essar's alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam case.
When contacted an Essar spokesperson declined to confirm the development but said: “Essar is in full compliance with DoT licence norms and all other applicable laws. As and when any information is sought, Essar will provide the same to the authorities.”
This comes a day after the Reliance Communication Chairman, Mr Anil Ambani, met the investigating agency. Earlier, honchos of STel, Unitech and Tata Realty had appeared before the CBI. All these companies maintain that there were no summons issued by the CBI but went to clarify their position with respect to the allegations on 2G on their own. The CBI started questioning the CEOs of top telecom firms after the Supreme Court directed it to investigate allegations that 2G licences were given in 2008 to operators who did not meet the eligibility criteria.
It has been alleged that the Essar Group held substantial equity in Loop Telecom when the latter had applied for licences in 2007. This is in violation of the DoT's crossholding norms that bar a single company from owning more than 10 per cent stake in two entities in the same circle. Since Essar owns 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, it cannot own more than 10 per cent stake in another mobile company. Essar maintains that it owns less than 10 per cent stake in Loop. The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) in its report on 2G policy had said that the DoT had given licences to Loop Telecom even though the company did not meet eligibility criteria.
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