CBI Files Affidavit On Airtel CMD Sunil Mittal Involving 2G Case

The CBI on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court to bring on record the relevant facts regarding the alleged role of Sunil Bharti Mittal in a corruption case linked to allocation of additional 2G spectrum in 2002 as disclosed by its chargesheet filed in the 2G court.

In its 11-page affidavit accompanying voluminous documents gathered during the investigations, the CBI listed the sequence of events to argue that Bharti Televentures’ IPO and the allocation of additional spectrum were part of a concert involving Mittal and the late Mahajan.

As TelecomLead reports, the IPO of Bharti Tele-Ventures with a floor price of Rs 45 was the first ever 100 percent book building issue that opened for bidding from January 28, 2002 for six days and closed on February 2, 2002.

Thanks to institutional support, the IPO was oversubscribed over 2.5 times. While the total demand received under the book was Rs 2137.5 crore, the amount retained by the company at the issue price of Rs 45 per share is Rs 833.85 crore. The IPO became the backbone of Bharti Airtel’s growth in India. 2G spectrum was the game changer for Airtel’s success as it brought enough confidence to investors and valuation to the telecom operator.

The CBI said that an overall revenue loss of Rs 846 crore was caused to the exchequer by the low rates of Adjusted Gross Revenue imposed in favour of three companies.

Sunil Mittal and Essar group promoter Ravi Ruia, were summoned as accused in the additional 2G spectrum allocation case and appeared on Thursday in a Delhi court, which posted the matter for further proceedings on 16 April.

[Telecom Lead]