2G scam: Tata Real Estate Chairman, MD questioned by CBI

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) Two top executives of Tata group--Chairman of the group''s realty and infrastructure arm RKrishna Kumar and its Managing Director and Chief ExecutiveOfficer Sanjay G Ubale -- were today questioned by the CBI inconnection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The two officials of Tata Realty and Infrastructurereached the CBI headquarters early in the morning and werequestioned regarding alleged Rs 1,600 crore loan extended toUnitech to procure 2G spectrum.

This is the second time that Ubale has been quizzedby the CBI in connection with the firm''s alleged linkages withUnitech, one of the two companies which have been mentionedin the FIR filed by the agency on October 21, 2009.

The CBI had earlier questioned Sanjay Chandra of Unitechon issues relating to offloading of majority stake to Norwaybased company Telenor after getting 2G spectrum license.

CBI is probing whether Tata Real Estate had paid Rs1,600 crore to Unitech for a land deal at a time when the thereal estate company was applying for 2G license in 2007.

During the questioning of the Unitech Managing Directorhe was asked to explain about offloading of shares, CBIsources said.

Unitech has claimed that it has been cooperating withall investigating agencies from the very beginning as it hasnothing to hide.

"Our officers have provided all records for examinationand clarified all issues raised by them from time to time.

Going forward, we will continue to assist in the same spirit,"the company said in a recent statement.

The charges against Unitech, according to CBI''s FIR, wasthat it offloaded over 60 per cent of its stake to Telenor andearned a profit of 267 per cent even before the serviceroll-out.

"M/s Unitech was alloted UAS licences for 22 cricles forRs 1658 crore. It offloaded its 60 per cent of shares in thelicences to Telenor of Norway for Rs 6100 crore even beforethe roll-out," the FIR said.

According to the FIR, "estimated loss to the governemntby grant of licences to these two companies (Swan and Unitech)alone comes to Rs 7,105 crore. On pro-rata basis, theestimated loss for all the 122 circles is more than Rs22,000 crore." PTI ABS SKL VMN