Accused in 2G scam to face trial

New Delhi: Ten months after his arrest, former federal telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja and several other officials were formally charged yesterday by the Special Trial Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for criminal breach of trust, bribery, forgery and cheating in connection with the controversial allocation of mobile phone licences in 2008.

Also charged were Raja's former aide R.K. Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura.

Raja, Chandolia and Behura will be tried under the Indian criminal law for allocating mobile phone permits to companies in return for bribes, Judge O.P. Saini said in an order.

Stringent charges

The court accepted the CBI's plea to apply stringent charges of causing losses to the exchequer on all the 17 accused, including top executives from private telecom companies, a crime that is punishable by up to life imprisonment. The framing of charges paves the way for a trial of those accused that will start on November 11.

India's chief auditor said the cut-price, first-come, first-served permit sale three years ago at "unbelievably low" prices may have reduced government revenue by $31 billion (Dh113 billion). The sale of airwaves is one of a several scandals that damaged the popularity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government and triggered nationwide street protests in August.

"We were expecting that the judge was going to frame the charges in this way, so this is not a surprise" said Ramesh Gupta, a lawyer for Raja. "This is the beginning of the trial, not the end."

Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty Managing Director Vinod Goenka, Reliance ADA Group Managing Director Gautam Doshi and Senior Vice-Presidents Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara were charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy, and causing loss to the exchequer, according to the court order.

The court also charged DMK leader, MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, a lawmaker of Singh's second-biggest ally, former DB Realty Managing Director Shahid Balwa and three companies — Reliance Telecom, a unit of billionaire Anil Ambani's flagship company Reliance Communications, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless.

All those charged deny any wrongdoing.

Reliance Communications executives and Reliance Telecom will move the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the charges, according to an e-mailed statement from Reliance Telecom. The framing of charges against the company executives won't have any impact on licences, operations and business of Reliance Telecom, it said.