The CPI(M) today claimed that a Kolkata-based company, shortlisted for a franchise for BSNL's Wi-Max, was a 'benami' company.
"After we carried out enquiries from the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and sought information from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, we found that the company did not exist at all and it was shortlisted for being given a franchise of BSNL Wi-Max," CPI(M) Rajya Sabha members Sitaram Yechury and Prashanta Chatterjee told a press conference here.
Chatterjee said that in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha in March this year, Minister of State for IT Gurudas Kamat had said the company, Ampoules and Auto Private Limited, Kolkata, was among four shortlisted firms.
"As the company was based in Kolkata, we decided to enquire about it and found out that no such company, or any other company, ever existed in the Kolkata address that was provided for seeking the franchise," Chatterjee, a former Kolkata Mayor said.
He said three letters were written in this regard to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "We sought answers but are yet to get any."
Buttressing the opposition demand for constituting a Joint Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Yechury said, "It is preposterous that a company shortlisted for BSNL franchise does not exist at all."
"This is only one instance of how such licenses have been granted. Who will inquire into this? It is not mentioned in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the 2G spectrum scam," he said.
Referring to earlier instances when JPC was instituted, Yechury asked, "Why is the government so hesitant? JPCs have been appointed even when the sums involved were much less. This (spectrum scam) is the single largest scam in India's history that has caused an estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore."