Supreme Court’s auction threat looms over Reliance Communications, Aircel merger

NEW DELHI: Angered by the continuing failure of Malaysian businessman T Ananda Krishnan, who has a significant stake in Aircel-Dishnet, to heed the summons issued to him, the Supreme Court on Friday renewed its threat to scuttle the proposed merger of the service provider with Reliance Communications and asked the Centre to auction the spectrum allotted to it if he did not submit himself to Indian law.
The court was livid that Krishnan and three other accused had refused to appear before Indian authorities despite a January 6 order proposing to stop Aircel-Dishnet from earning revenue from the spectrum allotted to it in case they continued to dodge
T Ananda Krishnan has been accused of acquiring the control of Aircel with the help of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran who allegedly coerced the original promoter to evacuate the venture. Dayanidhi and his brother Kalanithi were discharged on Thursday by a Delhi court in the case.
Global Communications, incorporated in Mauritius and owned by Krishnan-controlled Maxis Communications Berhad, has 74% shares in Aircel-Dishnet and the remaining 26% is owned by Sindya Securities and Investments Private Ltd. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi attempted to distance Aircel-Dishnet from Maxis and Krishnan and said the company had no control over the Malaysian businessman and that securing his presence by coercive action against Aircel-Dishnet would be a wrong approach.
This triggered an angry reaction from the bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices N V Ramana and DY Chandrachud . “We are hearing of people running away from Indian law. If Ananda Krishnan has nothing to do with Aircel-Dishnet, why is he running away? Why does he not come and show us the facts? Here is the SC asking him to come to India as he has been declared an absconding accused.
“Can this happen in a foreign country? They will come down heavily on such people. If Krishnan does not come and present his bona fide, we will deal with him as an accused. He is disobeying the SC and you people say he has done nothing wrong,” the bench said.
Singhvi showed the ownership pattern of Aircel-Dishnet and said the proposed merger of the company with Reliance Communications’ mobile phone services did not involve any monetary transaction.
The bench said if Krishnan still preferred to ignore the summons, then it would be forced to auction the spectrum allotted to Aircel with a base price of Rs 20,000 crore.