Chinese telecom firm ZTE has denied being part of criminal conspiracy related to forging of the letter head of the then Minister of state for Home Ajay Maken to create a draft letter addressed to Prime Minister saying that its officials were not involved in the case.

"We strongly deny any such allegations. ZTE is professional and ethical company running its operation worldwide and has always complied with the laws of the land of the respective country," a ZTE spokesperson said in a statement.

The CBI which registered a case of alleged forging of the letter head had alleged that the Abhisjek Verma, an arms dealer and unnamed officials of Ganton and its Indian subsidiary Ganton India alongwith ZTE are behind this. The agency has booked all of them.

“About a fortnight ago, we received a complaint from Union Minister Ajay Maken, alleging that his letter-head had been forged and the same was used to prepare a letter with the aim of obtaining visas for the employees of a foreign company,” said a CBI official.

The letter had requested the Prime Minister "to take a reasoned view" on the visa issue as there were around "60,000 such personnel on business visa" working in various projects.

ZTE Telecom, which has been named in the case along with Ganton India, allegedly struck the agreement in view of the circulars issued at the instance of the Home Ministry in October 2009 that directed foreign nationals in the country on business visas to return to their countries by the month-end.

ZTE said that all visas issued to ZTE employees are being issued by Indian Government only after complying with procedural laws of the country.

“There is no agreement signed by ZTE for procuring visas for ZTE employees," ZTE statement added.