Antrix-Devas deal is fraud of Congress, by Congress, for Congress, says finance minister Sitharaman

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman launched a scathing attack on the Congress over the Antrix-Devas deal. She described it as a “fraud of the Congress, by the Congress, for the Congress”.

This comes a day after the Supreme Court upheld the liquidation order of Devas Multimedia by National Company Law Tribunal and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and called the 2005 Antrix-Devas deal a fraud.

While upholding liquidation of Devas Multimedia, the Supreme Court had said, “A total amount of Rs 579 crore was brought in by Devas and 85 per cent was siphoned away by the company to a subsidiary company in US, partly towards business support services and partly towards litigation.”

Calling the Supreme Court order “comprehensive”, the finance minister targeted the Congress for sitting on the matter since 2011 and not initiating any action. She said that it was only in 2015, after the BJP came to power that action was taken.

Nirmala Sitharaman also asked why Rahul Gandhi had never raised a point or asked any question about the scam. She went on to say it was “fraud upon the treasury of India”.

WHAT IS THE CASE?

In 2005, a deal was forged between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and privately-owned Devas Multimedia to provide multimedia services to mobile users. The current government has accused the Congress-led government of the time of handing over airwaves used by the defence to the private firm for a pittance.

The deal was cancelled in 2011 by the Indian government, against which the private company initiated arbitration proceedings. Devas initiated arbitration against the annulment at the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC). Two separate arbitrations were also initiated under the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) by Mauritius investors in Devas Multimedia under the India-Mauritius BIT and by Deutsche Telekom — a German company — under the India Germany BIT. India lost all three disputes and has to pay a total of USD 1.2 billion in damages.

Devas' shareholders are pursuing Indian assets abroad to recover award and have got a French court order to freeze Indian properties in Paris. They have got partial rights over funds maintained by Air India in Canada.

Last year, NCLT ordered liquidation of Devas observing that the firm appeared to have been incorporated with fraudulent intentions. Devas appealed against the order before NCLAT which in September 2021 upheld the liquidation. Devas filed an appeal before the Supreme Court which has now upheld the liquidation.

The Indian government now plans to use the Supreme Court's January 17 order to challenge enforcement actions of the private firm in international courts, Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

(With inputs from PTI)

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