2G, mining scam dominate corporate caveats

Business tycoons like Ambanis, Tatas and Ruias had to face legal battles that kept share prices of their companies fluctuating in bourses and the constant monitoring of the probe into the 2G scam resulted in the arrest of political heavyweights and high-profile corporate honchos.

The telecom scam and the issues concerning the sector also brought anxious moments for Home Minister P Chidambaram and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal who had to put to use all legal resources available with them to counter various allegations against them.

Sibal wriggled himself out of the allegation of reducing a penalty amount favouring Anil Ambani-headed RCOM but the apex court reserved its order on the plea for a probe into the alleged role of Chidambaram in the 2G scam after the CBI and government made a spirited defence of him in the court.

However, when Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy was launching a legal salvo against the telecom companies and the home minister in the 2G case, the finance ministry note to Prime Minister Office signed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee brought further embarrassment to Chidambaram.

The note stated that Raja alone could not be blamed for the loss to the exchequer in 2G allocation as Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister in 2008, could have suggested sale of radio waves through auction.

Due to the strict monitoring of the cases, Reddy brothers of Karnataka, ex-telecom minister A Raja, his DMK colleague Kanimozhi, corporate bigwigs from Reliance ADAG, Swan Telecom and Unitech Ltd hogged the attention with the legal battle concerning the business world in the apex court.

The parallel inquiry set up by Sibal to examine the actual loss to the exchequer in the 2G scam did not help any as the apex court gave free hand to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to go ahead with their probe uninfluenced by "high and mighty" which eventually resulted in the arrest of 14 influential people.

While Raja was the first to be arrested along with his private secretary R K Chandolia and former telecom Secretary Sidharth Behura, the days ahead witnessed the same fate for Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and top corporate honchos -- Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Ltd, Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, both promoters of Swan Telecom and D B Realty.

Three top corporate managers of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair-also spent around seven months in jail along with DMK-run Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar, film producer Karim Morani and two other businessmen-Asif Balwa and Rajeev Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd.

While the arrest of the high-profile accused was the high-water mark in the case, more trouble was in store for the corporate houses like RADAG`s Reliance Telecom, Balwa`s Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd which were also made accused in the case.