2G spectrum case

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The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government India were allegedly involved in [1] selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditions that provided an advantage to specific telecom operators. A. Raja, then Telecom Minister, was accused of selling 2G spectrum licenses at a very low cost which resulted in the loss of ₹1,760 billion (US$25 billion) in government revenue. [2] Raja was also accused of not following rules and regulations as well as not recognizing any advice from the Ministries of Finance and Law and Justice of India while allotting 2G spectrum licenses to telecom operators. Series of allegations were made on allotting 2G spectrum licenses including allegations from Central Bureau of Investigation after investigating the case alleging Raja for intentionally advancing the cut-off date (from 01/10/2007 to 25/09/2007) [3] to favour some specific firms (Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom), which were allegedly ineligible for applying for telecom licenses, in return for bribes.

Contents

On 21 December 2017, the special court in New Delhi after thorough examination of the case and hearing what the CBI had to say, acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum case including prime-accused Raja and Kanimozhi. [4] The court ruled that this case was baseless. As per the judgement, "Some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels." [5] [6]

On 19 and 20 March 2018, the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI respectively filed appeals against this verdict in the Delhi High Court. [7] On 22 March 2024, Delhi High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma agreed that the trial court's judgement requires deeper examination and re-appreciation of entire evidence and admitted the CBI's appeal. The High Court noted that there were several contradictions in the trial court's judgement. [8]

Background

India is divided into 22 telecommunications zones, with 281 zonal licenses. [9] In 2008, 122 new second-generation 2G Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses were granted to telecom companies on a first-come, first-served basis at the 2001 price. According to the CBI charge sheet, several laws were violated and bribes were paid to favour certain firms in granting 2G spectrum licenses. According to a CAG audit, licenses were granted to ineligible corporations, those with no experience in the telecom sector (such as Unitech and Swan Telecom) [10] and those who had concealed relevant information. [11] Although former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advised Raja to allot 2G spectrum transparently and revise the license fee in a November 2007 letter, Raja rejected many of Singh's recommendations. [12] In another letter that month, the Ministry of Finance expressed procedural concerns to the DOT; [12] these were ignored, and the cut-off date was moved forward from 1 October to 25 September 2007. [12]

On 25 September 2007 the DOT announced on its website that applicants filing between 3:30 and 4:30 pm that day would be granted licenses. [12] Although the policy for awarding licences was first-come, first-served, which was introduced during Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, Raja changed the rules so it applied to compliance with conditions instead of the application itself. [13] On 10 January 2008, companies were given only a few hours to supply Letters of Intent and payments; some executives were allegedly tipped off by Raja. [14] [15] Although the corporation was ineligible, Swan Telecom was granted a license [10] for ₹15.37 billion (US$180 million) and sold a 45-percent share to the UAE-based Etisalat for ₹42 billion (US$490 million). [10] Unitech Wireless (a subsidiary of the Unitech Group) obtained a license for ₹16.61 billion (US$190 million), selling a 60-percent share for ₹62 billion (US$720 million) to Norway-based Telenor. [10]

The following is a list of companies who received 2G licenses during Andimuthu Raja's term as telecom minister; [16] [17] the licenses were later cancelled by the Supreme Court: [18] [19]

CompanyTelecom regions# of licensesRemarks
Adonis ProjectsHaryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East)6Adonis Projects, Nahan Properties, Aska Projects, Volga Properties, Azare Properties & Hudson Properties were acquired by Unitech. Since Unitech Infrastructure and Unitech Builders & Estates were subsidiaries of Unitech Group, in 2008 Unitech had 22 2G licenses. Later that year, Telenor bought a majority share in the telecom company from the Unitech Group and provided service as Uninor with 22 licences.
Nahan PropertiesAssam, Bihar, North East, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh (east), West Bengal6
Aska ProjectsAndhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka3
Volga PropertiesGujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra3
Azure PropertiesKolkata1
Hudson PropertiesDelhi1
Unitech Builders & EstatesTamil Nadu (including Chennai)1
Unitech InfrastructuresMumbai1
Loop Telecom Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh21
Datacom SolutionsAndhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Mumbai21Operates as Videocon Telecom
Shyam TelelinkMadhya Pradesh, Kerala, Kolkata, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, North East17Shyam Telelink & Shyani Telelink have a combined 21 licenses. In late 2008 Russia-based Sistema bought a majority share in the company, which now operates as MTS India.
Shyani TelelinkMumbai, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh4
Swan TelecomAndhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai13Swan was a subsidiary of Reliance Telecom established to circumvent the one-company-one-license rule. In 2008, Swan merged with Allianz Infratech; late in the year Abu Dhabi's Etisalat bought about 45 percent of the company, renaming it Etisalat DB Telecom.
Allianz InfratechBihar, Madhya Pradesh2
Idea Cellular Assam, Punjab, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, North East, Kolkata, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai)9Since Idea Cellular bought Spice Communications in 2008 for ₹27 billion (US$310 million), [20] of the 122 spectrum licenses sold in 2008 Idea owns 13. Seven are in use by the company, and the remainder are overlapping licenses. [21]
Spice Communications Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra4
S Tel Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, North East, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh6In January 2009, Bahrain Telecommunications agreed to buy 49 percent of S Tel for $225 million. Chinnakannan Sivasankaran owns the remaining share. [22] [23] In May 2009, Sahara Group bought an 11.7-percent share in S Tel. [24]
Tata Teleservices Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, North East3In late 2008 Tata sold a 26-percent share to the Japanese NTT DoCoMo for about ₹130.7 billion (US$1.5 billion), or an enterprise value of ₹502.69 billion (US$5.8 billion). [25]

Accused parties

The selling of the licenses drew attention to three groups: politicians and bureaucrats, who had the authority to sell licenses; corporations buying the licenses, and professionals who mediated between the politicians and corporations.

Politicians

The following charges were filed by the CBI and the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation in the Special CBI Court. [26] [27] [28] [29]

A. Raja

  • Political career: Four-time DMK member of Parliament (currently member of Lok Sabha from Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu), former Union Minister of State for Rural Development (1999) and Health and Family Welfare (2003), former Union Cabinet Minister for Environment and Forests (2004) and Communication and Information Technology (2007 and 2009) [30] [31] [32] [33]
  • Allegation: A joint investigative report by the CBI and the Income Tax Department alleged that Raja may have received a ₹30 billion (US$350 million) bribe for moving the cut-off date for spectrum applications forward. [34] [35] The changed deadline eliminated many applications, enabling Raja to favour a few applicants. [34] [35] The agencies also alleged that he used accounts in his wife's name in Mauritius and Seychelles banks for the kickbacks. [36] A CBI charge sheet alleged that Raja conspired with the accused and arbitrarily refined the first-come, first-served policy to ensure that Swan and Unitech received licences. [37] Instead of auctioning 2G spectrum, he sold it at the 2001 rate. [37]
  • Charges: Criminal breach of trust by a public servant (section 409), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratification. [26] [38] [39]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 2 February 2011. [40] Applied for bail on 9 May 2012, [41] [42] which was granted on 15 May. [43] [44] [45]

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

  • Political career: Youngest Daughter of five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. DMK member of Parliament, representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha till 2019, currently member of Lok Sabha from Thoothukudi. [46] [47]
  • Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet, Kanimozhi owns 20 percent of family-owned Kalaignar TV; her stepmother, Dayalu Ammal, owns 60 percent of the channel. [48] The CBI alleges that Kanimozhi was the "active brain" behind the channel [48] and conspired with Raja to coerce DB Realty cofounder Shahid Balwa to funnel ₹2 billion (US$23 million) to Kalaignar TV. [49] Kanimozhi was in regular contact with Raja about the launch of Kalaignar TV. [49] Raja advanced the channel's cause, facilitating its registration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and adding it to DTH operator TATA Sky's lineup. Kanimozhi was charged with tax evasion by the Income Tax Department in Chennai. [49]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant and criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471), and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. [26] [38]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 May 2011. [50] [51] Granted bail on 28 November 2011, after 188 days in custody. [52] [53] On 21 December 2017, she has been acquitted by a Special CBI Court. [54]

Bureaucrats

A number of bureaucrats were named in the CBI charge sheet filed in its Special Court. [26] [27] [28] [29]

Siddharth Behura

  • Position: Telecom Secretary when the licenses were granted. [26] [55]
  • Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet, Behura conspired with Raja and several others. When the application deadline time was declared, from 3:30 to 4:30 pm Behura closed counters to block other telecom companies. [10]
  • Charges: Criminal breach of trust by a public servant (Section 409), criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting illegal gratuities. [26] [56]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 2 February 2011 [40] and granted bail on 9 May 2012, [57] [58] and finally acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a Special CBI Court for lack of convincing evidence. [54] On 10 July 2012 joint parliamentary committee deposition, Behura blamed Raja for most of the decisions related to 2G spectrum auctions. [59]

RK Chandolia

  • Position: Raja's private secretary when the licenses were granted. [26] [60]
  • Allegations: According to the CBI charge sheet Chandolia, like Behura, conspired with Raja and several others; when the application deadline time was declared from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, Chandolia joined Behura in shutting counters to physically block other telecom companies. [10]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 2 February 2011. [40] Although he was granted bail by the special CBI court on 1 December 2011, the following day the High Court took suo motu notice of newspaper reports of the bail and stayed it. [61] Chandolia appealed to the Supreme Court, and on 9 May 2012 the court upheld the bail grant. [62] He was acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a Special CBI Court for lack of substantial evidence. [54]

Executives

A number of executives were accused in the CBI charge sheet. [26] [27] [28] [29]

Sanjay Chandra

  • Position: Former Unitech Wireless managing director [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Allegations: Former CBI prosecutor AK Singh was implicated in a taped conversation sharing legal strategy and privileged information with Chandra. [63] [64]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2011 [65] [66] and granted bail on 24 November, [67] As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Umashankar

  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Allegations: Former CBI prosecutor AK Singh was implicated in a taped conversation sharing legal strategy and privileged information with Umashankar. [63] [64]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2008 [65] [66] and granted bail same day. As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Gautam Doshi

  • Position: Managing director, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2011 [65] and granted bail on 24 November 2011. [67] As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Hari Nair

  • Position: Senior vice-president, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2011 [65] and granted bail on 24 November 2011. [67] As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Surendra Pipara

  • Position: Senior vice-president, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2011 [65] and granted bail on 24 November 2011. [67] As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Vinod Goenka

  • Position: Managing director, DB Realty and Swan Telecom [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 April 2011 [65] and granted bail on 24 November 2011. [67] As of 21 December 2017 he has been acquitted by a special CBI Court. [54]

Shahid Balwa

  • Position: Corporate promoter, DB Realty and Swan Telecom [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 8 February 2011 [68] and granted bail on 29 November 2011, [69] acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54]

Asif Balwa

  • Position: Director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 29 March 2011 [70] and granted bail on 28 November 2011 [71] Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54]

Rajiv Agarwal

  • Position: Director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 29 March 2011 [70] and granted bail on 28 November 2011. [71] Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54]

Sharath Kumar

  • Position: Managing director, Kalaignar TV [26]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 20 May 2011 [72] and granted bail on 28 November 2011. [73] Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54]

Ravi Ruia

  • Position: Vice-chair, Essar Group [74] [75]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B) and cheating (Section 420) [74] [75]
  • Status: Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54] [76]

Anshuman Ruia

  • Position: Director, Essar Group [74] [75]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B) and cheating (Section 420). [74] [75]
  • Status: Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54] [76]

Vikas Saraf

Ishwari Prasad Khaitan

  • Position: Corporate promoter, Loop Telecom [74] [75]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy under (Section 120 B) and cheating (Section 420) [74] [75]
  • Status: Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54] [76]

Kiran Khaitan

  • Position: Corporate promoter, Loop Telecom [74] [75]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B) and cheating (Section 420) [74] [75]
  • Status: Acquitted on 21 December 2017 by a special CBI Court. [54] [76]

Karim Morani

  • Position: Corporate promoter and director, Cineyug Films [26]
  • Allegations: According to the Income Tax Department charge sheet, Morani-owned Cineyug Films was a part of the route used by Shahid Balwa to funnel [77] ₹2 billion (US$23 million) illegally to Kalaignar TV. [77] DB Realty corporate promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka transferred ₹2,092.5 million (US$24 million) to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables, where Balwa's younger brother Asif was a director. [77] [78] Kusegaon then transferred ₹2 billion (US$23 million) to Cineyug Films, and Morani transferred it to Kalaignar TV. [77]
  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Sections 468 and 471) and fabrication of evidence (Section 193); booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act [26]
  • Status: Arrested by the CBI on 30 May 2011 [79] and granted bail on 28 November 2011. [73] Promptly acquitted on 29 December 2017 by a "special CBI Court". [54]

Corporations

Several companies were named in the CBI charge sheet. [26] [27] [28] [29]

Unitech Wireless

  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B), cheating (Section 420) and forgery (Sections 468 and 471) [26]
  • Status: The company was acquitted on 21 December 2017 of any wrongdoing by Special CBI Court. [54]

Reliance Telecom

  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B) and cheating (Section 420) [26]
  • Status: As of December 2017, acquitted in 2G spectrum case. [80]

Swan Telecom

  • Charges: Criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant, criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B) and cheating (Section 420) [26]
  • Status: The company was acquitted on 21 December 2017 of any wrongdoing by a Special CBI Court that was appointed for the purpose of acquitting the accused. [54]

Media role

OPEN and Outlook reported that journalists Barkha Dutt (editor of NDTV) and Vir Sanghvi (editorial director of the Hindustan Times ) knew that corporate lobbyist Nira Radia influenced Raja's appointment as telecom minister, [81] publicising Radia's phone conversations with Dutt [82] and Sanghvi [83] when Radia's phone was tapped by the Income Tax Department. According to critics, Dutt and Sanghvi knew about the link between the government and the media industry but delayed reporting the corruption. [84]

Chronology

The Centre for Public Interest Litigation filed the first petition against the Union of India for irregularities in awarding 2G spectrum licenses. The petition alleged that the government lost $15.53 billion by issuing spectrum in 2008 based on 2001 prices, and by not following a competitive bidding process. This led to further petitions, and an investigation began in 2010. [85]

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2017

2018

2019

2020

2022

2023

2024

Licence cancellations

On 2 February 2012 the Supreme Court ruled on petitions filed by Subramanian Swamy and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) represented by Prashant Bhushan, challenging the 2008 allotment of 2G licenses, [214] cancelling all 122 spectrum licences granted during Raja's term as communications minister. [214] and described the allocation of 2G spectrum as "unconstitutional and arbitrary". [215] The bench of GS Singhvi and Asok Kumar Ganguly imposed a fine of ₹50 million (US$580,000) on Unitech Wireless, Swan Telecom and Tata Teleservices and a ₹5 million (US$58,000) fine on Loop Telecom, S Tel, Allianz Infratech and Sistema Shyam Tele Services. [216] According to the ruling the current licences would remain in place for four months, after which time the government would reissue the licences. [217]

In its ruling the court said that former telecom minister A. Raja "wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer", listing seven steps he took to ensure this: [216] [218]

  1. After becoming telecom minister, Raja directed that all applications for spectrum licences would be held pending Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendations. [216] [218]
  2. The 28 August 2007 TRAI recommendations were not presented to the full Telecom Commission, which would have included the finance secretary. Although the TRAI recommendations for allocation of 2G spectrum had serious financial implications (and finance ministry input was required under the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961), Telecom Commission non-permanent members were not notified of the meeting. [216] [218]
  3. The DoT officers attending 10 October 2007 Telecom Commission meeting were coerced into approving the TRAI recommendations, or they would have "incurred" Raja's "wrath". [216] [218]
  4. Since the Cabinet had approved the Group of Ministers recommendations, the DoT had to discuss the issue of spectrum pricing with the finance ministry. However, Raja did not consult the finance minister or other officials because the finance secretary had objected to allocating 2G spectrum at 2001 rates. [216] [218]
  5. Raja dismissed the law minister's suggestion that the issue should be presented to the Group of Ministers. After receiving the PM's 2 November 2007 letter suggesting transparency in spectrum allocation of the spectrum, Raja said it would be unfair, discriminatory, arbitrary and capricious to auction spectrum to new applicants because it would not give them a level playing field. Although a 24 September DoT press release said that 1 October would be the application deadline, he changed the deadline to 25 September. Raja's arbitrary action, "though appear[ing] to be innocuous was actually intended to benefit some of the real estate firms who did not have any experience in dealing with telecom services and who had made applications only on 24 September 2007, i.e. one day before the cut-off date fixed by the C&IT minister on his own". [216] [218]
  6. The 25 September cut-off date decided by Raja on 2 November was not made public until a 10 January 2008 press release in which he changed the first-come, first-served principle which had been in operation since 2003. "This enabled some of the applicants, who had access either to the minister or DoT officers, get bank drafts prepared towards performance guarantee of about Rs 16 billion". [216] [218]
  7. "The manner in which the exercise for grant of LoIs to the applicants was conducted on 10 January 2008 leaves no room for doubt that everything was stage managed to favour those who were able to know in advance change in the implementation of the first-come-first-served policy." As a result, some companies who had submitted applications in 2004 or 2006 were pushed down the list in favour of those who had applied in August and September 2007. [216] [218]

Companies affected by cancellations

The table below lists the companies whose license were cancelled. [219] [220]

CompanyParent company# of licences cancelled
Uninor Joint venture of Unitech Group of India and Telenor of Norway Unitech Group 22
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited, now MTS India Joint venture of the Shyam Group of India and Sistema of Russia21
Loop Mobile (formerly BPL Mobile)Khaitan Holding Group21
Videocon Telecom Videocon 21
Etisalat-DBJoint venture of Swan Telecom of India and Etisalat of the UAE15
Idea Cellular Aditya Birla Group (49.05%), Axiata (Malaysia, 15%) & Providence Equity Partners (U.S., 10.6%)13
S Tel Joint venture of C Sivasankaran of India and Batelco of Bahrain. After the Supreme Court ruling, Batelco sold its 42.7% share to Sivasankaran-owned Sky City Foundation for 65.8 million Bahraini dinar ($174.5 million). [221] [222] [223] 6
Tata Teleservices Tata Group 3

Aftermath

In addition to Batelco's exit, on 21 February 2012 Telenor (the majority shareholder in Uninor) terminated its agreement with Unitech and sued it for "indemnity and compensation". [224] [225] [226] On 23 February 2012, Etisalat of Etasalat-DB Telecom sued DB Realty corporate promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka for fraud and misrepresentation. [227] [228] [229]

After the special CBI court verdict on 21 December 2017 acquitting all the accused, the government faces compensation claims worth over Rs 170 billion from telcos like Videocon Telecom, Loop Telecom and STel who suffered loss of business after the Supreme Court scrapped 122 licences in 2012. [230]

Aircel-Maxis deal controversy

On 6 June 2011 former Aircel chief C. Sivasankaran complained to the CBI about not receiving a telecom licence and being forced by telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran to sell Aircel to the Malaysia-based Maxis Communications group, owned by T. Ananda Krishnan. The licences were allegedly issued after the deal was made. Sivasankaran also alleged that brothers Dayanidhi and Kalanithi Maran received kickbacks in the form of investments by the Maxis group through the Astro network in Sun TV Network, owned by the Maran family. [143] [144] [145] In the wake of the allegations, Maran resigned on 7 July. [231]

On 10 October, the CBI registered a case and raided properties owned by the Marans. CBI sources said that although no evidence of coercion was found in the Aircel sale, they found substantial evidence that Maran had favoured the company's takeover by Maxis and deliberately delayed Sivasankar's files. [143] [144] [145] On 8 February 2012, the Enforcement Directorate registered a money-laundering case against the Maran brothers [180] for allegedly receiving illegal compensation of about ₹ 5.5 billion in the Aircel-Maxis deal. [181]

During the CBI probe Sivasankaran said that the Maran brothers had forced him to sell his 74% share in Aircel to Maxis by threatening his life, giving the CBI a list of over 10 witnesses. In September 2012, the CBI said it finished its Indian investigation and was awaiting the response to a letter rogatory sent to Malaysia and a questionnaire from T. Ananda Krishnan before filing a chargesheet. [232] On 29 August 2014, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran, Malaysian businessman T Ananda Krishnan, Malaysian national Augustus Ralph Marshall, six others and four firms — Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Maxis Communication Berhad, Astro All Asia Network PLC and South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd as accused in the case. [233] On 29 October 2014, special CBI judge OP Saini said that he found enough evidence to proceed with the prosecution and hence summoned former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and others as accused. [234] Based on the CBI chargesheet, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 1 April 2015, attached Maran brothers' properties worth Rs 7,420 million. [235]

Subramanian Swamy alleged that in 2006 a company controlled by Karti Chidambaram, the son of Minister of Finance P. Chidambaram, received a five-percent share of Aircel to get part of ₹ 40 billion paid by Maxis Communications for the 74-percent share of Aircel. According to Swamy, Chidambaram withheld Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance of the deal until his son received the five-percent share in Siva's company. [236] The issue was raised a number of times in Parliament by the opposition, which demanded Chidambaram's resignation. [237] Although he and the government denied the allegations, [238] The Pioneer and India Today reported the existence of documents showing that Chidambaram delayed approval of the foreign direct investment proposal by about seven months. [236] [239] [240]

In July 2018, the CBI named P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram as accused in its supplementary charge sheet. The charge sheet named 16 other co-accused, including former finance secretaries Ashok Chawla, Ashok Jha, former Aircel CEO V Srinivasanand, Maxis owners T Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshal. [241]

Response to the allegations

When Indian media began citing the CAG report identifying the loss at ₹ 1.76 trillion (short scale), the Indian opposition parties unanimously demanded the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations. [242] [243] Although the government rejected their demand, [243] when the winter session of Parliament began on 9 November 2010 the opposition again pressed for a JPC; again, their demand was rejected. [243] The demand for a JPC gained further momentum when the CAG report was tabled in Parliament on 16 November 2010. [244] The opposition blocked the proceedings, again pressing for a JPC; [245] the government again rejected their demand, creating an impasse. [246] Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the impasse. [247] The winter session of Parliament concluded on 13 December 2010. Although 22 new bills were planned to be introduced, 23 pending bills passed and three bills withdrawn, Parliament functioned for only nine hours. [248] On 22 February 2011, after resisting opposition demands for over three months, the government announced that it would form a JPC. [249] The JPC criticised the CBI for its leniency to the PM, the Attorney General, Dayanidhi Maran and Chidambaram and its reluctance to investigate their roles on 24 July 2012. [250] After questioning former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and the head of Maxis Communications, the CBI alleged that the Maran brothers accrued an illegal ₹ 5.50 billion by the sale of Sun Direct TV shares at highly "inflated prices". [251]

In early November 2010 Jayalalithaa accused state chief minister M Karunanidhi of protecting Raja from corruption charges, calling for Raja's resignation. [252] By mid-November, Raja resigned. [253] At that time, comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon) and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that the 85 licenses granted to these companies did not have the capital required at application or were otherwise illegal. [254] It was speculated that because these companies provide some consumer service, they would receive large fines but retain their licenses. [254]

In June 2011 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticised the CAG for commenting on policy issues, warning it "to limit the office to the role defined in the constitution." [255] After Singh's criticism the CAG conducted a "rigorous internal appraisal" and stood by its findings, citing additional events as corroboration. The CAG reiterated that there was "an undeniable loss to the exchequer", the calculation of which was based on three estimates: the 3G auctions and the Swan and Unitech transactions. It cited the Supreme Court ruling of 2 February 2012 that the actions of Raja and officers at the Department of Telecom were "wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the public interest, apart from being violative of the doctrine of equality. The material produced for the quote showed that the Minister for C&IT wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer." It said its estimate of loss of 1.76 trillion was justified, since the May 2012 TRAI collation of reserve prices for 2G spectrum was about the same as that in the November 2010 CAG report. TRAI had recommended a reserve price for 2G spectrum of ₹ 180 billion for a pan-India 5 MHz licence, higher than the 3G value of ₹ 167.50 billion for 5 MHz used by the CAG for arriving at a loss figure of ₹ 1,760 billion. It concluded that it was only examining the "implementation of policy", and policy-making was the government's prerogative. [256]

Joint parliamentary committee

The JPC consisted of half United Progressive Alliance members and half opposition members. Twelve were from the Lok Sabha, and eight from the Rajya Sabha. Of the Lok Sabha MPs, eight were from the Congress Party and four from the BJP. The following JPC members investigated the 2G allegations:

NameParty
Kishore Chandra Deo Congress
Paban Singh Ghatowar Congress
Jai Prakash Agarwal Congress
Deepender Singh Hooda Congress
P. C. Chacko Congress
Manish Tewari Congress
Nirmal Khatri Congress
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Congress
T. R. Baalu Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Kalyan Banerjee Trinamool Congress
Jaswant Singh BJP
Yashwant Sinha BJP
Harin Pathak BJP
Gopinath Munde BJP
Sharad Yadav Janata Dal (United)
Dara Singh Chauhan Bahujan Samaj Party
Akhilesh Yadav Samajwadi Party
Gurudas Dasgupta Communist Party of India
Arjun Charan Sethi Biju Janata Dal
M. Thambi Durai All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Trial Court Verdict

On 21 December 2017, a Special CBI Court acquitted all the persons accused in the case. [207] [257] [258] [259]

Special Judge OP Saini stated in his judgement: "There is no evidence on the record produced before the Court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons.” He added that “the chargesheet of the instant case is based mainly on misreading, selective reading, non-reading and out of context reading of the official record” and that "the chargesheet is based on some oral statements made by the witnesses during investigation, which the witnesses have not owned up in the witness box.” [260]

Delhi High Court Appeal

On 19 and 20 March 2018, the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI respectively filed appeals against trial court verdict in the Delhi High Court. [261] On 22 March 2024, Delhi High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma agreed that the trial court's judgement requires deeper examination and re-appreciation of entire evidence and admitted the CBI's appeal. The court said that detailed arguments on the case will take place on 20 May. [8]

In his 120-page judgement, Justice Sharma observed that, "The allegation is not about an “ordinary criminal offence” but an “economic offence” which is a separate class and is “required to be handled with a different approach”. The evidence has to be weighed and not counted. The court during the hearing has also noticed some contradictions in the (trial court's) judgment itself, which requires deeper examination. The trial judge had “repeatedly noted” that the prosecution should have given an opportunity to the witness to explain the statement made by them." The high court said that this raises the question as to, “why the Ld. Judge presiding over the trial did not exercise his jurisdiction under the Indian Evidence Act to seek any clarity, if there was any ambiguity." [262]

See also

Other scams and corruption

Anti-corruption efforts

References

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