2. Vodafone wants to settle tax row out of court THE Dutch
government, on behalf of Vodafone International Holdings BV, has
approached the Indian government for settling a three-year-old
dispute involving a tax claim of over 11,000 crore, even as the
worlds largest private mobile phone company continues to fight the
case in the Supreme court, two tax officials with direct knowledge
of the development said. UK- headquartered Vodafone had bought
Hutchisons operations in India through its Netherlands-registered
subsidiary, Vodafone International Holdings BV. The Netherlands has
now written to India asking it to consider an alternate dispute
resolution that will run parallel to the ongoing court process
through what is termed as a Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP), a
government official aware of the development said. MAP is an
alternate process of dispute resolution, and is an option available
to a taxpayer in addition to and concurrent with the appellate
process. However, under MAP, once the proceedings are initiated, it
is possible to obtain a stay on the tax demand provided one gives a
bank guarantee. 3. CABINET RESHUFFLE LIKELY IN MID-JAN Sibal to
hold telecom portfolio till next rejig IN AN attempt to erase the
popular image of sleaze now associated with the telecom ministry,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday handed over the reins of
Sanchar Bhawan to HRD minister Kapil Sibal. But the department will
have to be handed over to the DMK when Mr Singh goes in for a rejig
of his team, probably in mid- January. The prime minister got an
opportunity to exercise his discretion on selecting a baby-sitter
only because DMK chief M Karunanidhi failed to thrash out the inner
dynamics of his party and choose a successor to disgraced
ex-minister A Raja. While TR Baalus nomination will just not be
acceptable to the Congresshe was kept out of the government in 2009
at its instance the DMK chiefs daughter, Kanimozhi, does not have
the complete backing of the family. Moreover, Ms Kanimozhi is
closely identified with a discredited Raja. 4. CAN OF WORMS:
TELECOM ENTANGLED IN CORRUPTION CAG calls Rajas bluff on 2G licence
allocation Raja dumped advice of PM and ministries to favour a
chosen few in allocation of precious 2G airwaves in 2008 while
companies hid facts, used fictitious documents & fraudulent
methods to grab licences Shady cos benefited from tainted minister.
ARAJA flouted almost every rule in the book, ignored advice from
the prime minister down and indulged in blatant favouritism while
awarding mobile licences to mostly undeserving companies, the
countrys chief auditor has said, in a stinging indictment of the
former telecom minister who is accused of causing a loss of nearly
177,000 crore to the government. Using language rarely ever used
against a minister, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
accused Raja of granting undue benefits to Reliance Communications
(RCOM) and giving undue advantage to the erstwhile Swan Telecom
(now Etisalat DB), singling out these two companies for special
mention in sub-headings of its report submitted to Parliament on
Tuesday. The report mentioned Swan as a front for Anil
Ambani-controlled Reliance. 5. CAG also slammed Mr Raja for
mishandling the 2G spectrum allocation in 2008, noting that the
telecom ministry under him awarded 122 mobile permits to nine
companies at prices fixed in 2001, disregarding the prime ministers
plea for a fair and transparent allocation policy. It also accused
him of ignoring the advice of the law and finance ministries, and
the counsel of the telecom ministrys senior bureaucrats. The
auditor said 70% of the telecom licences issued by Mr Raja were
illegal, and companies granted these permits, notably Unitech, S
Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon) and Etisalat, had disclosed
incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents and used
fraudulent means for obtaining them. Many companies were allowed to
change doctored and fictitious documents later, in some cases even
as late as 12 months after they had submitted their applications.
It said most licensees had prior information and even pre-dated
demand drafts, allowing them to jump the queue. The entire process
of allocation of licences lacked transparency and was undertaken in
an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner, the CAG said, 6.
WIN-WIN DEAL POSITIVES FOR BOTH SIDES Axis wins Enam, buys its best
for 2,067 cr AMBITIOUS private lender Axis Bank has snapped up the
best of the house of Enamone of Dalal Streets most influential
brokerage-cum- investment banks. Axis, led by CEO Shikha Sharma, a
former ICICI Bank director, will acquire Enam Securities key
businesses such as investment banking, institutional and retail
broking, and distribution of financial products in an allstock deal
worth 2,067 crore. With this, Enam will exit its famed agency
businesses that will be demerged from Enam Securities to a
wholly-owned Axis subsidiary. Close to 400 Enam officials will move
to the new outfit that will be headed by Manish Chokhania key
member of the Enam management and one of the four shareholders in
Enam Securities. 7. Mr Chokhani, and the founders of EnamNemish
Shah, Vallabh Bhanshali and Jagdish Masterwill own a 3.3% equity in
Axis after the bank issues new shares to them. The transaction will
need approvals of RBI, Sebi, and the high courts of Gujarat and
Mumbai. The story was broken by ET NOW, this papers business
channel, at 12:35 pm on Wednesday, ahead of other broadcasters and
wire services. Later in the afternoon, ET NOW correctly reported
the swap ratio, which is 5.7 Axis Bank shares for one Enam share.
8. Heres the bellwether of scams Bells palsy:Trai annuls 62
licences for rollout delays THE telecom regulator has asked the
government to cancel 62 of the 122 licences issued by former
telecom minister A Raja under controversial circumstances in 2008
to new companies, including joint ventures of international
operators such as Telenor ASA, Emirates Telecommunications Corp and
Sistema JSFC, because they had not been able to launch services in
time. The recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India which claims that its views were ignored by Mr
Rajastrengthens the possibility of several licences issued in 2008
being revoked. On an action-packed day, the telecom department,
under new minister Kapil Sibal, decided to seek legal opinion on
the validity of the telecom licences dished out by Mr Raja after
the countrys national auditor said 70% of these mobile permits were
obtained through fraudulent means, an official aware of the
development 9. SPECTRUM SCANDAL GOVT FILES AFFIDAVIT TODAY WITH the
Supreme Courts observations in the 2G spectrum case creating a
toxic political environment for the government, the Centre on
Friday decided to depute Attorney General Ghulam E Vahanvati to
represent the prime minister in the apex court for countering the
charge that there was a delay in acting on the petition for the
prosecution of disgraced telecom minister A Raja. The affidavit
that will be filed in the court on Saturday will explain every
attention received and action taken on the petition of Janata Party
MP Subramaniam Swamy for action against Mr Raja. Mr Swamy had
sought sanction for the prosecution of Mr Raja in a communication
to the prime minister on November 29, 2008. The affidavit will
convince the court that every communication from Swamy received the
required attention, sources said. 10. Manmohan acted promptly on 2G
scam complaints: PMO The Prime Ministers Office on Saturday told
the Supreme Court that Dr Manmohan Singh acted promptly within days
on the complaint of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy
seeking his sanction to prosecute the then telecom minister A Raja
in 2G spectrum allocation scam. The Prime Minister referred the
first two complaints of Swamy for examination to the concerned
official within two days, third complaint within four days, the
fourth one in a day from the date of its receiving, said PMO in its
11-page affidavit filed by its director, V Vidyavati. According to
the PMO, it had received two more communications from Swamy which
were looked into
