Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Supreme Court’s decision on the Dewas issue has once again shown how the Congress party has repeatedly committed national-level scams.
Launching an attack against the Congress party, Sitharaman said that the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had signed an agreement that was full of discrepancies.
The Supreme Court on January 17 dismissed an appeal filed by Dewas Multimedia challenging the order of winding up of the company. A bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice V Ramasubramaniam dismissed the appeal filed by Dewas Multimedia Pvt Ltd. This was the final decision against Dewas in a legal battle with Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The Supreme Court has given a comprehensive order. This is proof of how the Congress party, while in power, misuses its position and dilutes the sale of India’s resources.” He said that 85 percent of the money has been embezzled.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the earlier order of the Bengaluru Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had directed the closure of Dewas Multimedia on May 25, 2021, and a provisional liquidator for the purpose. was appointed. This direction of NCLT comes from a petition filed by Antrix Corporation.
The NCLT had said that Dewas Multimedia was incorporated in 2005 with the intention of colliding and colluding with the then officials of Antrix Corporation to acquire the bandwidth by entering into an agreement, which was later rescinded by the government. This order was challenged by Dewas Multimedia and its shareholder Dewas Employees Mauritius Pvt Ltd before the Chennai Bench of NCLAT, which dismissed the petition.
“The agreement was signed in 2005 by the erstwhile UPA government, and after the agreement, it took a full 6 years for the UPA to cancel the order in 2011. Even when they revoked it, the National Glimpses of what was completely wrong against him. The security – that it was a fraud against the people of India – was clear. A few months before the cancellation, a sitting minister in the UPA government was arrested,” Sitharaman insisted. said.
Mediation Headache
He said that international arbitration orders are also coming to expose ‘what this greed of UPA has done. “They may have quashed the order in 2011, but our government under the leadership of PM Modi is fighting in every court to ensure that this fraud doesn’t go away,” he said.
Sitharaman said the government will highlight the latest Supreme Court judgment in international forums where arbitration proceedings are going on. Devas Multimedia is currently seeking compensation of $111 million over the failed 2005 deal.
Investors in Dewas Multimedia are trying to seize money deposited by Air India and the Airports Authority of India with the International Air Transport Association (IATA). On 8 January, the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec in Canada identified Air India as the alter ego of the Indian government and allowed an initial forfeiture of 50 percent of its IATA funds.
The same Canadian court had last year allowed the confiscation of properties of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Air India (AI) in Dewas company on appeal by Mauritian investors.
Long Legal Road
According to Dewas, what the agreement was intended to achieve was the first of its kind and tremendous innovation. As a result, Devas introduced and used technologies that were never there before and was a huge revenue generator for Antrix. Dewas Multimedia was incorporated on 17 December 2004. Dewas Multimedia was incorporated on 17 December 2004.
According to the winding-up petition filed by the commercial arm of ISRO before the NCLT, the then officials of Antrix Corporation including its then Chairman had executed a contract on January 28, 2005. It was terminated on February 25, 2011, as it was received. Forgery in collusion with the then officials Antrix had said that the investigating agencies CBI and Enforcement Directorate have uncovered fraud in executing the agreement.
The CBI later filed the charge sheet and the ED initiated PMLA proceedings. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had also initiated an inquiry into the Dewas Multimedia cases, but was stayed by the Delhi High Court.