2G scam: PAC starts summoning industry leaders

Some of India's leading industrialists involved with the telecom industry have been summoned to appear before Parliament's public accounts committee (PAC), which is examining the national auditor's report on losses to the exchequer on account of the alleged 2G spectrum scam.

These include Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani, the head of the Anil Dhibubhai Ambani Group, Vinod Goenka of Dynamix Balwas (DB) Group, which holds a majority stake in Etislat DB, Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra and Siva Ventures Ltd chairman and S Tel promoter C Sivasankaran, as well as corporate lobbyist Nira Radia.

Tata will appear on 4 April, while Ambani will appear the next day.

Tata is looking forward to engaging with the PAC, said a spokesperson for the group. "We welcome the move. Tata is happy to depose before the PAC."

Ambani's Group expressed similar sentiments. "Anil Ambani welcomes the opportunity to appear before PAC," the Reliance spokesperson said in a statement.

"We have not received any intimation to appear before the PAC. But in the case we are asked to, we will be happy to go and clarify our position as we had written earlier to the PAC requesting to be given an opportunity to present the facts," the Unitech spokesperson said.