Unitech Ltd did not sell its shares to Telenor: 2G witness

A prosecution witness told a Delhi court that Unitech Limited, whose Managing Director (MD) Sanjay Chandra is facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, had not sold a "single share" to Norwegian firm Telenor after the foreign company had invested in it. Deposing as a CBI witness in the case, Ajay Chandra, Sanjay Chandra's brother and also a Unitech Ltd's MD, said after having been granted the 2G spectrum licences in 2008, eight subsidiaries of Unitech Ltd grouped together and M/s Telenor Asia (P) Limited was made an investor.

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"It is correct that Unitech Limited did not sell a single share held by it to Telenor Asia (P) limited. Equity was given to Telenor Asia (P) Limited by way of fresh issuance of shares," Ajay Chandra told Special CBI Judge O P Saini. His statement assumes significance as the CBI had alleged that Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, also an accused firm, had off-loaded 60 per cent of its shares to Telenor for Rs 6,200 crore immediately after getting the 2G licences and had earned windfall profit.

The agency had alleged that eight group companies -- Aska Project Ltd, Nahan Properties Pvt Ltd, Unitech Builders and Estates Pvt Ltd, Adonis Projects Pvt Ltd, Hudson Properties Ltd, Unitech Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Azare Properties Ltd and Volga Properties Pvt Ltd -- were renamed after getting UAS Licenses from the Department of Telecom (DoT) and they later merged into Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd. During recording of his statement, Ajay Chandra told the court that percentage equity of Telenor Asia (P) Limited was 67.25 per cent while that of Unitech, through its affiliates, was 32.75 per cent.

He deposed that after commencement of telecom business after grant of Unified Access Service Licences (UASL) in 2008, Sanjay Chandra started looking after it.