Appearing as a CBI witness,  Arun Kumar Dalmia, a former  advisor for Allianz Infratech (P) Limited, told the special court on Friday that that various telecom companies knew the date of issuance of letter of intents (LOI) by the telecom ministry beforehand.

He told CBI judge O.P. Saini that during his visits to department of telecommunications (DoT) office, he would witness, officials of Datacom and Idea cellular  coming to inquire about date of issuing of LOIs.

"Other companies had also come to know beforehand that LOIs would be issued on Jan 10, 2008," he said.

Dalmia's statement came while being cross examined by counsel Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for R.K. Chandolia, a former aide of ex-telecom minister A. Raja.

The witness added that Allianz Infratech had sold its entire stake to Swan Telecom.

The CBI has alleged that former telecom minister A. Raja entered into a conspiracy with others and had illegally granted LOIs to companies Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless.