Feb. 3: Two private telecom companies — Swan and Unitech — were allegedly favoured and had made huge profits by selling their stakes to other companies at high prices even as a loss of Rs 7,105 crore was caused to the exchequer, said the senior public prosecutor, Mr Akhilesh, appearing for the CBI.
Unitech brought licences for 22 circles for Rs 1,658 crore and sold 67 per cent of the equity to Telenor for Rs 6,100 crore. Similarly, Swan Telecom bought licences for 13 circles for Rs 1,537 crore and sold 45 per cent of equity to Etisalat for Rs 4,200 crore.
The CBI counsel told the court the bidding process was not adopted as per rules so there were losses. He added that changes in first-come-first-serve basis provisions were made to help others. The counsel also informed the court that there were allegations of favouritism in granting licences and awarding spectrum.
Opposing the CBI plea, the senior criminal lawyer, Mr Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Mr Raja and Mr Chandolia, pleaded that the CBI’s estimates of losses were imaginary.
Mr Gupta argued before the court that the loss figures were imaginary as the profits that Swan and Unitech made were meant for further investment and infrastructure development.