Reliance Telecom used Swan Telecom as 'mask' to obtain 2G licence: Special Judge O P Saini

NEW DELHI: Special Judge O P Saini on Saturday said Reliance Telecom used Swan Telecom as a “mask” and resorted to subterfuge to obtain 2G licence and spectrum.

“Source of funding for Swan Telecom was Reliance Communication Limited/ Reliance Telecom Limited. Swan Telecom was not only an associate but a front, or a facade for Reliance Communications/Reliance Telecom. In a sense, Swan Telecom was Reliance Communication /Reliance Telecom itself and Swan Telecom was just a mask for it,” the judge said in his order, clearing the decks for the trial of the 2G accused.

Reliance Telecom Ltd, a company of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has earlier denied the allegations. CBI officials reacted to the judge’s observation, saying it had vindicated their stand on the allegations of Swan being an “associate” of Reliance Telecom Limited . The special judge used the CBI’s definition of “associate company” as it framed charges in the 2G case.

He said Reliance Telecom officials had structured the net worth of Swan Telecom in a manner that its association with Reliance Telecom “may not be detected” .

“In January-February 2007, accused Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair structured/created net worth of Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, out of funds arranged from Reliance Telecom or its associates, for applying to the department of telecom for UAS Licences in 13 circles, where Reliance Telecom had no GSM spectrum, in a manner that its association with Reliance Telecom may not be detected so that DoT could not reject its applications on the basis of clause 8 of the UASL guidelines dated December 14, 2005,” Judge Saini said.

After getting the GSM spectrum under the dual technology policy, Doshi, Pipara and Nair deliberately did not withdraw the applications for licences and instead transferred the control of Swan Telecom to Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, the judge said.

“In this manner you knowingly transferred a company which was otherwise ineligible for grant of UAS licence on the date of application , being an associate of Reliance Telecom Ltd to you accused Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, belonging to Dynamix Balwa group,” the court said.

The CBI had said Swan Telecom was an associate of Reliance Telecom and had alleged this violated existing telecom regulations.