Jailed Swan Telecom promoter says Tatas are not a 'victim' of 2G scam

The Tatas are being portrayed by the CBI as the "victim" in the 2G spectrum scam but they are the greatest beneficiaries in the allocation of radio waves during the tenure of A Raja as telecom minister, a Delhi court was told yesterday.

Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom and accused in the case, alleged the CBI was trying to shield Tatas by giving them a clean chit and portraying that Balwa's company benefited the most in the 2G spectrum allocation.


Shahid Balwa accused the CBI of shielding the Tatas, who, he said, made the most of the 2G allocations. Ratan Tata


Seeking to buttress the allegations, Balwa's counsel Vijay Agarwal, asked how the Tatas be a victim when they were on good terms with Raja and Ratan Tata had praised the former telecom minister on the entire 2G episode.

"Tatas never had any strained relations with Raja. In fact, Ratan Tata had written to Raja praising him for beingu00a0 rational, fair and action-oriented," he submitted before special CBI judge O P Saini.

Alleging that the CBI was shielding Tatas, he said, "CBI's heart beats for Tatas." He questioned the projection of Tatas as clean while relying on the statement of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia that the Tata trust donated Rs 50 crore to a hospital in Raja's constituency in Tamil Nadu and "Tatas were being pursued for taking Kalaignar TV in the Tata Sky bouquet".

The CBI said, "Tata, which was an existing licencee, sought to have dual technology. Its file was delayed by 35 days and it was shown that Swan Telecom has been issued licence for Delhi circle."

The agency has alleged in its charge sheet that Tata Tele Services Ltd and Spice Communications, which were having priority over Swan Telecom in terms of dual technology approvals, were "unreasonably deprived" of allocation of spectrum for Delhi circle.

The CBI had submitted that Tata Tele Services Ltd and Spice Communication were hit hard by the conspiracy hatched by Raja and others, including Shahid Usman Balwa and Vivek Goenka of Swan Telecom and Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless Ltd, in allocation of 2G spectrum.

Agarwal also contended that, with the exception of Unitech, CBI does not say a word about the 85 other ineligible companies.

The court reserved its order on the bail pleas of Asif and Rajeev Balwa for May 21 while the order on Balwa's bail plea has been put up for May 24.

'No assessment'
Contending on behalf of Balwa, Agarwal also contended "there is no scientific assessment of the charge that the Delhi circle was the most lucrative and was available for only one player which is why I (Shahid Balwa) conspired to get hold of it. "The DoT website shows that there is more spectrum available for Delhi circle," he added.