Reliance Infocomm officials appear in court in call masking case
By IANSTuesday, August 3, 2010
CHENNAI - Top officials of the erstwhile Reliance Infocomm Tuesday appeared before the chief metropolitan magistrate at Egmore here in a case related to masking of international calls as local calls and thereby causing loss to the government.
The case pertained to the time when Reliance Infocomm was still a functional company and part of the undivided Reliance Industries group.
The company’s name was changed after the Ambani brothers - Mukesh and Anil - split the businesses and the telecom business went to the younger Ambani. The company has since been renamed Reliance Communications.
In 2006, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed the case against the company for transmitting over 7.5 crore minutes of international calls between May 2004 to Sept 2004.
According to B. Kumar, a senior advocate representing Reliance Infocomm, Manoj Modi, then Director, Reliance Infocomm, Akil Gupta, the then CEO, appeared in the court.
Also present in the court were Pankaj Pawar, head (Regulatory), Shankar Adaval, president (Corporate Affairs) and two other officials at the hearing.
Kumar said the government had not suffered any loss as every cost had been paid back.
In 2005, Reliance Infocomm had paid Rs.150 crore as fine under protest levied by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
The court adjourned the case to Sept 8.
