The saga continues.
The potential connection between the Indian 2G scam and the menagerie of companies in the Anil Ambani group (Swan, Tiger, Parrot, Zebra, Penguin and Giraffe.) surfaced in early 2011. But now it is reaching Court and Anil Ambani deposed yesterday. His wife Tina is due to depose today. His ADAG Group has lost much of its former gloss and he may not command the same level of political support and protection that he could a few years ago. He no longer has the unquestioning shareholder admiration his father once had (and which to a large extent his brother still has)
Ambani’s and friend
(Commentary removed – October 2014)
In Court, Ambani’s memory has suddenly become remarkably selective as the Hindu reports:
‘I am unable to recall if I was on the board of this company in 2007’
“I am not aware of any company by the name of Swan Telecom (P) Limited. Reliance Telecom Limited is a subsidiary of Reliance Communication Limited and I am non-executive chairman of the latter company. Earlier I was on the board of Reliance Telecom but I do not recall the period. I am unable to recall if I was on the board of this company in 2007,” Mr. Ambani said in reply to a prosecutor’s query, while recording his evidence as prosecution witness in the court of Special Judge O.P. Saini here.
But when he was shown a form for opening a bank account on behalf of Swan Consultants (P) Limited at an ICICI Bank branch in Mumbai and his attention was drawn to the signatures and photographs of persons authorised to operate the account, Mr. Ambani admitted that it bore his signature and that of his wife Tina.
He also admitted that copies of his and his wife’s PAN cards, tagged with the account opening form, bore their signatures. But he refused to identify a document captioned “declaration for promoter owned company.”
“I have also been shown annexure 2 under the caption ‘declaration for promoter owned companies’, which mentions the name of the parent company as Reliance Energy Limited and the names of common promoters as Anil Ambani [myself] and Tina Ambani … I am aware of neither this document nor the contents mentioned therein, as this is a document of the bank,” Mr. Ambani said.
However, he identified three of the accused. “I have been shown photographs of Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair … against their names and I identify them. However, I cannot identify their signatures. I identify these three persons as they are part of the group. However, I cannot recall their designation now.”
(Commentary deleted)Back in February Tehelka reported:
THE 2G spectrum scam is getting murkier by the day. A well-known Maharashtra politician and a Delhi- based real estate group have now come under the probe agencies’ scanner for their suspected role in the scam.
….
Now evidence is forthcoming from the banks involved in the jungle of transactions involving the menagerie of companies controlled by Anil Ambani’s ADAG Group and which confirms that Anil Ambani was central to the games being played:
Anil Ambani and wife Tina were the only two individuals with unlimited powers to transfer money and make payments for the sevenAnil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies that are now under CBI investigation for their links to the 2G scam-linked Swan Telecom, according to the testimony of Amit Khot, deputy branch manager of ICICI Bank’s Nariman Point branch, where these seven companies have their accounts.
The menagerie included Swan, Tiger, Parrot, Zebra, Penguin and Giraffe.
The 2G Zoo
The k2p blog 