The trial court issued fresh summons on Friday to Essar group promoters Ravi Ruia and his nephew Anshuman Ruia, besides Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan, sister and brother-in-law of Ravi Ruia, in the telecom spectrum scam, after none of them turned up at the Patiala House courts here. Judge O P Saini said the accused were being given “one last chance” to appear before him, ahead of the court taking “any coercive action”.
The fresh summons were issued for February 22. The promoters of Essar and Loop Telecom were told to appear before the court on Friday, but they did not show up, citing reasons that "summons were not issued properly".
At this, the court directed the service officer to visit the given addresses three times on different dates and affix the summon on the premises in case of unavailability of accused or any male member of the family. The court said the accused be also intimated telephonically also about the summons by sending SMS and through calls on the numbers provided by them.
| What the CBI Counsel said after filing a chargesheet against Essar and Loop promoters last month * Loop Telecom acted as an alter ego for Essar group and made false representations to DoT * Kiran Khaitan and IP Khaitan (sister and brother in law of Essar group promoter Ravi Ruia) acted as benami holders for Loop promoters and they misled DoT along with Anshuman Ruia and Ravi Ruia of Essar Group * The accused "created a complex corporate veil” to cheat DoT and thereby violated the clause 8 of unified access service licence guildelines |
| What Essar said in its defence * The company was fully compliant with all the UASL licence provisions and that the alleged charges filed by the CBI relate to a violation of clause 8 of the UASL guidelines. Essar has consistently maintained that its shareholding in Loop has always been less than 10 per cent since the acquisition of BPL Mobile by the Khaitan group in 2005. Essar's position has been validated at every stage by various arms of the government |
“I deem it proper that before issuing any coercive process against the four accused for procuring their presence in the court, one more attempt be made to effect personal service,” Saini said. The addresses of Mumbai and Delhi, where the earlier summons were sent through service inspectors, were given voluntarily by the accused and considered good for their service, he added. Prosecution lawyer U U Lalit told the judge the summons were issued on the addresses given by the accused during investigation. No change of address was intimated to the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) or to the court by the four accused — Ruias and Khaitans, he added.
Dismissing the application of senior advocate for Essar, Hariharan, which said the Ruias were permanent residents of Dubai, Saini noted that summons were issued at the correct address since the address provided by them (Ruias) to the CBI were of Mumbai and Khaitans also gave a Delhi and a Dubai address.
On January 13, the probe agency had pasted a copy of the summons outside the main gate of the residential premises of Ruias, on being told they were in Dubai. Similar action was taken in case of the Khaitans on January 11.
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Defence counsel Sidhartha Luthra sought exemption from personal appearance for Vikas Saraf, Essar Group director (strategy and planning), for four weeks on the ground that he is employed abroad. Saraf is also an accused in the Essar-Loop case.
| Names of the accused and the charges |
Loop Telecom described as “clearly uncalled for” the CBI’s actions of pasting summons in India in presence of media. “The Khaitans are NRIs. There’s no question of evading summons served in accordance with law,” the company said in a statement. “It is a case of over-interpretation of Clause 8 of the UASL guideline, which is at best a civil matter.”
Essar is contesting the jurisdiction of the court to proceed with this matter, as there are no corruption charges against it and it is not part of the 2G scam. Loop Telecom counsel also said the court might adjourn the matter. For, it “is going to the very root of jurisdiction and so that we can go to the Supreme Court and deal with the matter”. Essar reiterated that it was a “law-abiding corporate” that had been cooperating with the investigation in the case. “The due legal process of serving summons to overseas residents is well documented in law. The government and CBI, despite having information about the residential status of Ruias, have failed to inform the court and follow the due process,” it said in a statement.
It was on December 12 that the CBI filed the chargesheet against Essar group, Loop promoters and three companies — Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd, Loop Mobile India Ltd and Essar Tele Holding. The agency alleged Loop Telecom acted as an alter ego for the Essar group and made false representations to the department of telecommunications.
Ravi Ruia and Anshuman Ruia along with Saraf all belonging to the Essar group remained directors on the board of Hutchinson Essar during the entire relevant period -- 2004 to 2010, according to the CBI. They were looking after the telecom interests of the Essar group in the joint venture and elsewhere, its chargesheet said.