Anil Ambani not the director of Swan: 2G witness

NEW DELHI, INDIA: One of the witnesses of the 2G spectrum allocation case on Tuesday said in a special CBI court that Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, was not a director of Swan Telecom and Tiger Traders.

Testifying as a witness in the 2G spectrum allocation case, senior vice president (accounts and finance) of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Ashish Tambawala told Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge O.P. Saini that Reliance ADA Group refers to companies which are under the chairmanship of Anil Ambani.

The Reliance ADA Group has since been renamed Reliance Group.

"The directors of the company select one of them as chairman. Anil Ambani was not director of Swan Capital Pvt Ltd/Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd," Ashish Tambawala said.

"Reliance Group is a generic name without any legal identity. Reliance Group is an umbrella of several companies belonging to the group," the witness said.

The witness added that each company of the group has its own separate identity.

"One could be authorised signatory of a company even if he is neither a shareholder or a director or an employee of the said firm," said Tambawala, adding that he has been authorised signatory of between 150 to 200 companies during his tenure with the Reliance Group.

CBI has alleged that Reliance Group floated Swan Telecom, an accused firm in the 2G case, to secure licences. According to the CBI charge sheet, Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd was also an alleged associate company of Reliance Group.

Tambawala said that the company operates in different sectors including power, media, telecom and infrastructure.