A senior official of the Reliance ADA Group (R-ADAG), considered a key aide of chairman Anil Ambani, has described himself as a consultant in a statement to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The official, Satish Seth, a group managing director, was questioned by the CBI in connection with the 2G scam.

In the statement, which is part of court records, he has blamed another senior company official, Gautam Doshi, for the controversial decision to invest in and exit Swan Telecom, a company that is at the heart of the alleged scam. Seth is listed as a prosecution witness in the court records.

They have been charged with forgery, cheating and abetment to crime. The CBI has alleged the three R-ADAG executives created a web of companies with the intention of concealing the fact that Swan Telecom was controlled by the Anil Ambani group.

Their actions amounted to criminal conspiracy, according to the investigating agency''s version of events, to enable R-ADAG companies get licences to offer GSM services in 13 circles, for which they were not eligible as they already had all-India licences based on a different technology.

Seth-among a handful of senior executives who had chosen the group headed by Anil when Reliance was divided in 2005-06-told the CBI that from April 2007, he had been a consultant with different companies, including R-ADAG, and was getting a "fixed amount of consultancy fee from the group" and added he was "continuously on the board of Reliance Telecom Ltd from 1997".

Seth said in a board meeting held on October, 2005, he along with two other individuals-SP Shukla and Gaurang C Shah- were authorised to invest and disinvest to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore. Subsequently, an investment of Rs 28 crore was made in Swan Capital, later renamed Swan Telecom, and now known as Etisalat DB.

Statement appears confusing

The Reliance Telecom board was informed of this on January 30, 2007-in this meeting, which was also attended by Bhagwan Das Khurana, SP Shulka and Anil Ambani, Gautam Doshi was appointed on the mobile phone company's board.

In the same meeting, the investment limit was enhanced 10-fold to Rs 10,000 crore. The authorised signatories were SP Shukla, Gaurang Shah and Satish Seth, according to the statement to the CBI. A further investment of Rs 964 crore was made in Swan, and the Reliance Telecom board was informed on April 29, 2007.