CBI adds cheating, forgery charges against A Raja

The CBI on Monday added cheating and forgery charges against those accused in the 2G spectrum scam, including former telecom minister A Raja and DB Realty promoter Shahid Usman Balwa. HT reports.

The CBI on Monday added cheating and forgery charges against those accused in the 2G spectrum scam, including former telecom minister A Raja and DB Realty promoter Shahid Usman Balwa.

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The agency told special judge OP Saini that Raja, in complicity with Balwa and other suspects, forged documents to get the licences and caused a Rs 22,000-crore loss to the exchequer. The court remanded Raja and Balwa to police custody for three and four days, respectively.

The charges followed the CAG report that said 13 telecom firms that bagged 85 of the 122 unified access service licences — the licences cover all forms of telephony — either misled the department of telecommunications (DoT) on paid-up capitals or altered their memorandums of association/articles of association (MoA/AoA).

According to the CAG report, Allianz Infratech, which later merged with Etisalat DB Telecom — promoted by Balwa — claimed in its application to the DoT that it had a paid-up capital of R10 crore, while it had only R5 lakh.

Allianz also submitted an MOA/AOA that did not have telecom sector business as the main clause and, thus, was not eligible for the licence. But it got the clause changed later.