New Delhi: There seems to be some relief for Unitech Wireless in the 2G spectrum allocation scam with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) saying that there was no quid pro quo by the company.
The CBI in its closing argument also said that no money trail that could implicate Unitech had been found.
However, since Unitech was granted licences without eligibility, the charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy still stand.
Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, who has been in jail with former telecom minister A Raja, has been accused of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
Chandra, one of the 17 accused in the 2G scam case, on Monday told the Supreme Court that he has not done any wrong and the CBI is trying to 'manufacture' evidence to implicate him in the case.
Questioning the CBI probe, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Chandra, said the investigating agency has not conducted a proper inquiry and it is trying to mislead the court by saying that the company had off-loaded shares soon after getting the licences.
"It is not an investigating agency comprising angles. They work under someone who does not want proper investigation to be conducted in the case," Jethmalani told a bench of Justices GS Singhvi and HL Dattu.
"They are so desperate that they are manufacturing evidence against me," he further said adding "the company has not sold any equity to anyone for profit. We invited foreign companies and gave them additional shares but did not sell our own shares."
"This is legitimate capitalism and making profit is not an offence," he said while referring to the government policy of allowing foreign companies to invest telecom sector in the country.
The bench, after hearing his contention, adjourned the matter for September 5.
The court was hearing appeals filed by Sanjay Chandra and Swan Telecom's Director Vinod Goenka challenging Delhi High Court's verdict which had refused to grant them bail in the case.
The CBI said in its charge sheet that Swan Telecom and Unitech got the licences despite their complete ineligibility and both the companies off-loaded their shares soon after getting the licences and garnered around Rs 7,300 crore in the process.
All the companies and its executives named in the charge sheet have denied the allegation of involvement in the scam.
In the meantime, a special CBI court reserved its verdict on the framing of charges against all the accused in 2G scam and said it would pass the order on September 15.
Besides Chandra and Goenka, other accused in the case include former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, Raja's former Personal Secretary RK Chandolia, DMK-run Kalaignar TV's MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood filmmaker Karim Morani and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group's executives Hari Nair, Gautam Doshi and Surrendra Pipara.
The other accused persons included Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa and their colleague Rajeev Agarwal.
The accused also included three telecom firms Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd.
With the CBI's arguments ending, the court will pronounce charges against Raja and 16 others on September 15 now.
With additional information from PTI
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