Court summons Anil Ambani, wife to depose as witnesses

New Delhi (Agencies): Giving a new twist to 2G scam trial, the trial court has summoned Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani to depose as witnesses in the trail. CBI had earlier sought Anil Ambani and his wife Tina's presence in the court to strengthen the prosecution case. Accordingly, special CBI Judge O P Saini issued notices to all the 17 accused, including three firms RTL, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd, seeking their responses on July 3 on the agency's plea.

It wanted to examine Ambanis' alleged link to Swan Telecom, one of the firms which had benefitted from illegalities in the 2G allocation in 2008. The investigative agency alleged that Swan Telecom was nothing but a frontal organisation of Reliance ADAG, which aimed to "circumvent" the telecom policy that debarred existing players from seeking 2G licences. Three top executives of Reliance ADAG � Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara, along with Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, are facing trial in the case. Expressing its inability to place Anil's statement, CBI said, though recorded during investigations, as he was not the witness in the case. During the investigations, a witness identified Anil's signature on the documents attached to the account opening form of AAA Consultancy Services Co. (P) Ltd which is allegedly an 'associate' company of RADAG.