2G Scam-Letter Rogatory sent by CBI to Switzerland to probe Swan Beneficiary

The CBI on Monday had sent a Letter Rogatory to Switzerland for investigating the background of Mavi Investment Fund out of which a payment of four million dollars is allegedly made to Reliance. This measure is adopted as part of probing the real beneficiaries behind grant of 2G license to Swan Telecom. An approval had been previously obtained from Home Ministry to file Letter Rogatory and on September 14, a Letter Rogatory was issued by a special court which was afterwards translated into French language. Under Mutual Legal Assistance treaty with Switzerland, the translation is a prerequisite. In an affidavit to Supreme Court the CBI assured that besides sending its own team to Switzerland to get early response, the agency will pursue the matter with the assistance of Liaison Officer in Swiss Embassy. A letter of Rogatory is a letter of request by a court to a foreign court requesting its judicial assistance like taking of evidence, service of process etc.

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Anil Ambani not yet cleared of Allegation in 2G Spectrum Case

The CBI representative on Sunday clarified that investigation on the role of Anil Ambani in 2G spectrum case is still in progress. The CBI on the status report submitted to Supreme Court on September 29 had submitted that so far it could not obtain any oral or documentary evidence against Ambani so as to incriminate him “in the structuring of different companies and transfer of funds relating to Swan Telecom Company which had got Spectrum license”. The statement was made in response to a note by the petitioner Prashanth Bhushan that questioned the fairness of the investigation. Bhushan alleged that it is difficult for three employees to form a network of companies so as to mask the real ownership of Swan and to take 1000 crore of money without the consent of the Chairman of the Board. At the time of applications to the DoT for UAS licenses, Tiger Traders (91.1%) and Reliance Telecom (9.1%) were the share holders of Swan Telecom. Anil Ambani and his wife were the original promoters of AAA consultancy Services which had contributed small amount of funds towards Tiger Traders. But their shareholding of these companies was transferred a year prior to the application to DoT. The CBI is still in the stage of collecting evidence on “the role of Ambani and other employees in relation to share interest in the Swan Telecom” that was sold to Mauritius-based Delphi. According to CBI the shares sold to Delphi were undervalued. Meanwhile the Reliance ADA group on Friday clarified they had no beneficial interest in the 2G license and the share interest in Swan Telecom was sold months before the license was granted to Swan Telecom.

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