Amid a continuing legal battle between the Ambani brothers over gas supply, the elder of the two, Mukesh Ambani, is believed to have met Law Minister Veerappa Moily.
In his first poll rally for the April 6 assembly polls, Modi rooted for the Tamil language, culture and invoked the welfare legacies of M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, late chief ministers and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam icons.
Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, who along with former Telecom Minister A Raja and 17 others are facing a money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam, on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking setting aside of a lower court order of framing charges against him.
Justice Brijesh Sethi held that the 2018 amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to Section 13 (1)(d) would not come to the rescue of the acquitted accused in this appeal.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Tuesday opposed in a Delhi court the Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for placing on record a CD containing recorded conversations and transcripts of calls of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation.
Trashing the report on 2G scam by Justice Shivraj Patil, former telecom minister Arun Shourie on Tuesday accused Union Minister Kapil Sibal of trying to save former telecom minister A Raja by functioning as his advocate.
'The transactions were done in a circuitous route deliberately and most of the companies involved in it are Reliance ADA group firms.'
Decisions are also being pushed on free allotment of additional spectrum to telecom firms, on extending the licence period for 'dual technology' firms like Reliance Communications/Tata Teleservices etc, and on revising merger and acquisition norms. Given how each of these cases is so controversial, even apart from the issue of propriety, it is unacceptable that a government on its last legs should be taking such decisions.
Though the multi-crore 2G scam had come to light last year, it was 2011 which was action-packed as Raja, telecom ministry officials along with many high-profile business heads were put behind the bars for their alleged involvement in the case.
Uninor and Etisalat DB were given preferential treatment by A Raja, says CBI
Following is the chronology of the events in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which the prime accused and former Telecom Minister A Raja was on Tuesday granted bail:
The Enforcement Directorate is expected to soon file a chargesheet against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi and former Telecom Minister A Raja for alleged money laundering in the 2G spectrum case.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate's pleas seeking an early hearing into the appeals challenging the acquittal of former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Following is the chronology of events in the 2G scam.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Tuesday told a Delhi court that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Cabinet members were "completely under confusion" created by "vested interests" about policy and procedure of Department of Telecommunication in allocating the 2G spectrum.
Communications Minister A Raja has made it clear to bureaucrats in his ministry that there is no question of any change in the entry fee to be paid by a company for getting a unified access service licence, which allows an operator to offer mobile and fixed line services. In an unusually strong hand-written noting (not the first time that the 42-year old lawyer turned politician has done so) on a file relating to licences and related issues, Raja castigated senior officials.
He said that the telecom ministry is in discussions with finance ministry and GSM operators to work out new charges for additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz. The minister also said his ministry is also talking to finance ministry on the issue of relaxing borrowing norms for aspiring 3G spectrum bidders.
Telecom and IT Minister A Raja today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pitch for the extension of tax sops enjoyed by the IT firms for another three years.
Former telecom minister A Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi and 17 others were on Friday chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate in a special court in connection with a money-laundering case relating to the 2G spectrum allocation scam in which the party-run Kalaignar TV was allegedly paid Rs 200 crore by the promoters of Swan Telecom.
Union Minister M K Alagiri on Monday spent half-an-hour with his stepsister Kanimozhi, who is behind bars for her role in the 2G scam, in Tihar jail. Kanimozhi affectionately addressed Alagiri as anna (brother) as the two spent time together discussing Tamil Nadu politics and the on-going Parliament session.
Hailing the Supreme Court verdict in 2G case, L K Advani on Wednesday wondered if former telecom minister A Raja could be the sole "villain" and said no one can beat the United Progressive Alliance government, which is "actually run" by Sonia Gandhi, in its "stinking record" in scams.
Karunanidhi made the announcement in his concluding remarks at the meeting of the party's key decision-making body, the general council, on Sunday to rapturous applause from members, reflecting the anti-Congress mood in the party ranks.
Nothing 'accidental' about this movie, feels Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Maran was instrumental in changing the spectrum pricing while he was the Telecom Minister.
To BSNL's detriment, Raja emerges the clear loser.
Various corporate houses and multinational companies including AT&T, Russian firm Sistema, Sterlite, Hindujas, DLF, Parsavnath, Videocon and others have entered the fray to get telecom licences.
I hope those who underestimate Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be proved wrong in this fight for Thiruvananthapuram's future, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Sunday said he was ready to serve life imprisonment if a single rupee or dollar was found in any offshore account in his name.
The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to place before it the "files and notings" which purportedly suggest that its Director Ranjit Sinha wants stopping of whole trial against Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) and three top executives of the Reliance ADAG, who are accused in the 2G spectrum scam case.
A special court on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. The scam relates to the granting of 2G spectrum licence allocations in 2007-08 which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Here is a detailed timeline of how the case came to light and how it has progressed over the years:
A special court on Thursday held that the prosecution "miserably failed" to prove the charges in 2G scam case.
Instructions of the personal secretary to the minister were taken as instructions of the minister himself.
Telecom Minister A Raja said on Wednesday that the government is considering number portability in the mobile sector.
A slew of real estate companies, like DLF, Omaxe, BPTP and Avnija Properties (Dalmia Cement), and large corporations like telecom bigwig AT&T, Sterlite, Videocon, JSW Power, Hinduja's HTMT, Moser Baer Infrastructure, Ispat Industries Ltd and a Sam Pitroda-owned company are among the 25 companies whose applications will not be immediately processed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for awarding mobile licences.
A Central Bureau of Investigation officer, who was part of the probe team investigating the 2G spectrum scam, on Thursday denied in a Delhi court that A Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia was falsely implicated in the case as he had refused to depose against the former telecom minister.
CBI said Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were allegedly used as front companies by Reliance Group and Essar respectively.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were fully in the loop on the 2G spectrum license allocation and had decided along with then Telecom Minister A Raja not to auction them, jailed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi told a Delhi court on Tuesday.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday refused to grant early hearing on the Central Bureau of Investigation's appeal challenging the acquittal of former Union telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Finding a solution to the spectrum allocation issue will be the main challenge before A Raja, country's new communications minister, who has replaced Dayanadhi Maran.
Ironically, the subscriber growth in the country continues unabated - figures given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the sector regulator, show that nearly 15 million more users came on board in September.
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