E-Paper
Cleared by all, Maran blocked Aircel
Department of Telecom (DoT) officials - from the dealing officer to telecom secretary Nripendra Mishra - had unanimously recommended issuance of letters of intent for awarding of the Unified Access Service (UAS) licence for two circles to entrepreneur C Sivasankaran's company Aircel.
Department of Telecom (DoT) officials - from the dealing officer to telecom secretary Nripendra Mishra - had unanimously recommended issuance of letters of intent for awarding of the Unified Access Service (UAS) licence for two circles to entrepreneur C Sivasankaran's company Aircel. But then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran sat on the file for 44 days and then sought clarifications on "frivolous and uncalled for" objections, the CBI has alleged in its FIR.
The FIR states that Maran sought clarifications through his private secretary K Sanjay Murthy. "No such queries were raised in the case of Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel which were issued UAS licences at the same times," alleges the FIR. Maran didn't respond in this regard.
The CBI has alleged that Maran deliberately delayed grant of licence to Aircel in seven circles with the intent to force its exit from the business by constricting its business environment. However when Malaysia based Maxis group bought Aircel, its all applications for licences and other approvals were accepted.
The FIR claims that C Sivasankaran repeatedly requested for appointments with Maran in 2005 for addressing his grievances but he declined to meet him.
The CBI also alleges that after the change of ownership, Astro All Aisia Networks Plc (related company of Maxis communications) invested in Dayanidhi's brother Kalanidhi Maran's company Sun Direct TV Private Limited at a premium of around Rs550 crore. The fari value report in this regard indicated that the enterprise value of Sun Direct was between around Rs3,500 crore and Rs4,039 crore.
The CBI preliminary enquiry found that its fair value was around R400 crore as it hasn't started its any business or made business investments.
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