Witnesses Ashraf Saleh, uncle of Swan Telecom's Shahid Balwa, and Amit Vij, chartered accountant with ICICI Bank appeared in the 2G spectrum case trials in the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday.
Saleh told the special court that shares on his behalf were purchased by Balwa on a 'temporary basis'. He said he did not understand anything of the "English document" shown to him by the CBI officer. "I do not remember if I was told that these shares were of Giraffe company. I was told by Deodatta Pandit (of DB Realty) that some shares were being purchased in my name. I was called for signing some papers on the instructions of Shahid Usman Balwa in February 2007," Saleh said.
Vij verified his signatures on various documents, including memos and vouchers from February to March 2011, which dealt with cash transfers to, and from, companies that include Swan Consultants and Tiger Traders.
The trial would resume on Monday, with witness Vinod Kumar Khumman, an officer in Oriental Bank of Commerce, set to appear before the court. Khumman, in his statement to the CBI, had provided the details of accounts as on September 26 2008, of the transactions of seven companies —Etisalat, Tiger Trustee, DB Realty, Dynamic Balwas Infrastructure, Dynamix Realty, DB Telewimax and Swan Connect Communication.
Khumman said Rs 997 crore was first credited, and later debited, from the account of Tiger Trustees by Dynamix Balwas Infrastructure. He had also detailed several other transactions that took place between these seven companies during that period.