TELNY Telenor ASA (QX)

An Indian court Tuesday granted bail to Shahid Balwa, co-founder of Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd. and DB Realty Ltd. (533160.BY), taking the number of people who got bail in the multi-billion-dollar telecom corruption case to 11.

Three more people--Andimuthu Raja, who was the telecom minister when the alleged irregularities happened in 2008; his then personal secretary R.K. Chandolia and former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura--are still in jail.

Raja has yet to file his bail application. The trial court will hear Chandolia's plea Wednesday, while the Delhi High Court will consider Behura's application Thursday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation estimates manipulation of rules for allocating telecom licenses had resulted in the government losing about $7 billion of potential revenue.

The agency has named Swan a beneficiary in the case. Swan is now called Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETISALAT.AD) and the Dynamix Balwas Group. DB Realty is a part of the Dynamix Balwas Group.

Shares of DB Realty rose 14.2% intraday, after Balwa got bail. They closed 8.6% up at INR77 in a weak Mumbai market.

Balwa has been charged with criminal breach of trust and abetment to crime. He and the others have pleaded not guilty in the case.

Justice O.P. Saini of the trial court allowed bail to Balwa based on the conditions under which the Supreme Court had granted bail to five other corporate executives last Wednesday. The conditions include posting two sureties of INR500,000 each.

The investigation agency didn't oppose his bail plea.

Five people, including lawmaker Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, were given bail by the Delhi High Court Monday.

-By R. Jai Krishna and Romit Guha, Dow Jones Newswires; +91-9967586928; romit.guha@dowjones.com

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