The Central Bureau of Investigation has informed a parliamentary committee investigating the telecom sector that it has not uncovered any irregularities in two transactions in which the Tata Group was involved. CBI director, AP Singh, told the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) that the agency had examined a payment by Tata Realty to Unitech and the dealings between Voltas, a Tata group company, and the owners of a plot in Chennai.
Singh’s 45-page presentation to the JPC is a status report on its investigation into the telecom sector, notably the award of licences by former telecom minister A. Raja. The CBI presentation sites no instances in which the Tata group has violated any law or regulation.
The payment to Unitech, the CBI has found, was made on October 10, 2007, after the two companies entered into a memorandum of understanding for buying 527 acres in Gurgaon. Tata Realty paid Rs 17 billion, which was utilised by the Delhi-based company to pay for telecom licences, awarded by Raja in 2008.
The deal was later scaled back and most of the money was returned. According to Singh, “This single transaction cannot be construed to prove that Unitech was an associate of Tata Sons in terms of UASL guidelines,? thereby absolving the Tatas of any responsibility of Unitech?s actions.
The CBI’s analysis for the Chennai transaction comes to the same conclusion. Voltas, a Tata Group company, is currently involved in a court case to renew its lease over a plot located at Anna Salai, a prominent Chennai road, with the plot owner. The CBI probed a proposal for an out-of-court settlement. But the proposed settlement, in which Tata Realty was supposed to construct a building on the land, was never executed.
