Real estate major Unitech had offered to sell its telecom arm to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani, corporate lobbyist Niira Radia told the Central Bureau of Investigations during the investigation into the 2G spectrum scam.
She said the offer in this regard was made by the Unitech group’s managing director, Sanjay Chandra, as the telecom company was facing economic downturn.
“Sanjay Chandra requested me, given their current crisis, would Mukesh Ambani be interested in buying them out of their telecom venture because of their downturn,” Radia said in her statement, filed in court as part of the chargesheet filed on April 2.
The lobbyist said she told Chandra that Mukesh was not interested in telecom and “even for datacom for Dhoot (of Videocon) and Nahata (Mahendra of HFCL, which also got the 2G licence), he (Mukesh) said no”.
After Chandra persisted that she approach Ambani, Radia said she refused.
CITIBANK, DEUTSCHE BANK ADVISED ETISALAT TO INVEST IN SWAN
UAE-based Etisalat, which picked up equity in controversial Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB), has said two leading global banks — Citibank and Deutsche Bank — had advised the firm on the investment decision.
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“We were referred by reputed international investment banks to invest in Swan Telecom when we were exploring investment opportunity in India,” Etisalat Senior vice-president, Corporate Communications, Ahmed bin Ali said.
“There were several options given to us. The banks that had been recommending us for this were Citibank and Deutsche Bank,” Ali said. Swan was considered after studying different options in India. “The whole thing was given to us as government approved and there was no suspicion or question raised,” mentioned Ali during interaction.
He, however, asserted that Etisalat remained committed to the Indian market and plans to raise stake in Etisalat DB. Ali said Etisalat was not involved with Swan Telecom at the time of licence procurement and this fact should be taken into consideration by the Indian authorities.
“The day we entered into discussion shows that there is a big gap between the date we started negotiating with Swan and the date of licence completion process. The authorities must reconsider this,” Ali said.
Asked about his view on security concerns being raised about the company by the Indian government, he pointed out that being UAE-based, the organisation has expanded business in countries that share good relations with India. “This was one of the reasons that we invested in India. UAE government has 50 per cent stake in Etisalat and we are very concerned about the country’s and company’s image,” he said.
About Etisalat’s relationship with Chinese companies, he said it was sourcing equipment from the same Chinese companies that supply equipment to other Indian telecom companies.
“There has never been any issue with supplies made by Chinese companies to Indian telecom companies. Therefore this should not be a reason for security concern,” he said. About Etisalat’s operation in India, he said being an MNC Etisalat is present in 18 countries like any other MNC and hence downlplayed the reason being given by security agencies.
“There are many MNCs which operate in various countries. You can see this in your region as well,” Ali added.