By IANS,
New Delhi : Two senior officials of Reliance Group told a special court on second generation (2G) telecom spectrum case Friday that the company’s holding in Swan Telecom was 9.9 percent and within the limits prescribed by the authorities.
The counsels for Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara told the special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), presided over by Judge O.P. Saini, that their clients had also not hatched any criminal conspiracy as alleged by the probe agency.
“Reliance Telecom had just 9.9 percent equity stake in Swan initially, but that too much before it applied for licenses,” counsel C.V. Nagesh, who is representing Nair, told the court.
“Even if there existed a conspiracy, my client was not involved. Otherwise, he would not have divested these shares in Swan especially had he known that it will get the licence, and thereby not causing a loss to the group,” the counsel said.
“This is all wrong. The Central Bureau of Investigation is trying to plot its own case. It is an act being played out by the agency. It is the agency which is doing an act of fraudulent misrepresentation,” he added.
The counsel for Pipara spoke on similar lines.
“When the licenses were granted the control and the stake in the company (Swan Teleco) had already passed on to the hands of DB Realty,” said N. Hariharan. “There was no criminal intent at any point of time. Prosecution is picking and choosing material.”
The court is scheduled to hear co-accused DMK MP Kanimozhi’s arguments Tuesday.