Mumbai, Feb. 15: Reliance Infocomm today said the three companies owned by Ashish Deora were no longer shareholders of the country?s leading mobile telephony company as their shares have been withdrawn.

Though Reliance Infocomm did not specify the date when the shares were withdrawn, documents available with The Telegraph reveal that the names of the three entities were there on the shareholders? roster till September 23 last year.

According to the annual returns filed with the Registrar of Companies, the three Deora firms ? Fairever Traders & Consultants Pvt Ltd, Prerna Auto Pvt Ltd and Softnet Traders & Consultants Pvt Ltd ? owned as much as one crore shares of Reliance Infocomm. Ashish Deora happens to be a business associate of a prominent politician.

It?s believed that Reliance Infocomm withdrew the shares most probably in December last year, a little after the controversy broke in mid-November when Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother, Anil, began their public spat.

In a press statement issued today, Reliance Infocomm explained that Ashish Deora?s service was retained by the company for the Greater Mumbai fibre-optic project as he had prior expertise and experience in this field.

Reliance Infocomm agreed to compensate Deora by way of a nominal fee to be paid upfront and the remaining through the appreciation of the company?s equity shares to be sold to him or his nominees by the employee trust. Using this technique, Reliance Infocomm was able to link compensation to performance. The trust retained the option to purchase back the shares at par.

Deora was, however, not permitted to sell, pledge or deal with the shares.

On the basis of this understanding, the trust sold equity shares to three nominee companies controlled by Deora.

However, Deora was not able to fulfil his commitments. As a result, the shares were returned to the trust.

?This should set at rest all attempts to distort the issue of allocation of shares to Deora or his companies,? the statement said.

What remains unanswered is exactly when did Deora?s three entities return the shares and why was only his companies given an incentive.