Anil Ambani, Tatas untouched by CBI: NGO to SC

The NGO which brought the 2G spectrum case to the Supreme Court, on Wednesday alleged "big fish" like Reliance Telecom Chairman Anil Ambani, Essar's CEO Prashant Ruia and Tatas' who are real beneficiaries have been left out of CBI chargesheets.

The NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), told the apex court that Shahid Usman Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were the front companies for RCom and Essar Group respectively while Tatas' benifited for funding Tamil Nadu-based NGO whose Director was DMK MP Kanimozhi.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said RCom, which was inelligible for the 2G licence, had financed Swan Telecom and its chairman Anil Ambani, who has 50% stake in the company, has been untouched by CBI despite being the real benificiary.

"The real beneficiary is Anil Ambani, who holds majority stake and is Chairman of the group companies. CBI has tried to shield him and has only chargesheeted the employees," he told a bench comprising justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly.

A short note of the submission placed before the bench said investigation has gone cold over the involvement of Prashant Ruia in the scam.

"Petitioners have learnt that while CBI might be following the case of Loop Telecom which made huge benefits, the investigation has gone cold over the involvement of Prashant Ruia and his family members who, through a complex web of transactions, set up Loop Telecom to defraud and cheat the government for award of 2G spectrum and licenses," the submission placed before the bench said.

He also raised the issue of Tata Teleservice which benefitted in grant of Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) for its dual technology as Tatas' had funded the NGO run by Kanimozhi but CBI was not moving against them.