Author: J Gopikrishnan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 30, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/232618/Fraud-getting-murkier.html
Kolkata company propped up to hide firm with
Raja link
The state-run BSNL's bid to save its political
master -Telecom Minister A Raja - from alleged fraud in shortlisting WiMax
franchisees, is getting murkier by the day. BSNL's latest claim that M/s Ampoules
& Auto Private Limited is a registered company, which was shortlisted
as franchise on the basis of valid documents, has turned out to be another
piece of brazen lie.
BSNL's contradictory statements on the WiMax
operation make for interesting reading. First, the BSNL said they had allotted
franchise to one company called Ampules for operating in Chennai, West Bengal,
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. This was widely reported in media. When non-existence
of the company was reported by The Pioneer, the BSNL came out with a clarification
that they had shortlisted one Ampoules & Auto Private Limited of Kolkata,
which had nothing to do with high-end WiMax operations.
Here comes the latest. Responding to a series
of exposes in The Pioneer on the issue, the BSNL on Friday said in a fresh
rejoinder: "As per documents submitted by M/s Ampoules & Auto Private
Limited, the company was registered in Kolkata as on 21st May 1958 as 'Ampoules
(India) Private Limited'. The company changed its name to "Ampoules &
Auto Private Limited" on 11-12-1963, as per the certificate from Assistant
Registrar of Companies, West Bengal. The company has submitted certified copies
of last two years' balance sheets and has requisite turnover."
In its first rejoinder on Wednesday, the BSNL
had said, "The company M/s Ampoules & Auto Private Limited, Kolkata
which has participated in the said tender is a Registered Firm under Registrar
of Companies, Government of India."
But the fact remains that no such company
exists presently as the name of M/s Ampoules & Auto Private Limited was
changed to Starnet Communication Private Limited in November 2009, five months
after the original small-time auto ancillary company submitted the tender
bid for WiMax franchise in June last year.
BSNL sources said that under pressure from
their political boss, the high-ups are trying to keep Starnet, the real allottee,
out of media glare because the company has been taken over by Raja's men.
Record shows that all the previous directors
(all from West Bengal) of the M/s Ampoules & Auto Private Limited were
replaced by people from Tamil Nadu and Malaysia when the name change took
place in November.
One of the directors of Starnet is an high-placed
official in Malaysia's Wellcom Communications, which was a bidder for WiMax
operation last year.
After The Pioneer reported that 15 per cent
of the share of this company was held by one T Silvarajoo, who is close to
Raja. Then Raja had floated five shell companies through his friend Sanjay
Kapoor in a single day. The tender process was cancelled following a series
of exposes by this newspaper.
Choosing Starnet and hiding its identity is
a cleaver ploy to award the franchise operation once again to company close
to the Telecom Minister.
As per the current norms, only companies with
Rs 100 crore turnover per year for the last two years can participate in the
tender process for WiMax operation. But the BSNL officials were arm-twisted
to accept the Ampoules & Auto, rechristened as Starnet Communication,
in the middle of the process, without any turnover check.
It is still a mystery in the telecom circles
why the BSNL shifted the entire WiMax franchisee finalisation process from
Delhi to Raja's home turf Chennai.
