New Delhi:
In a new revelation on the 2G spectrum scam, BJP leader and former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie has said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) knows the identity of the man who handled the bribe money in the Telecom Ministry, and wondered why that person has not been questioned till now.
Speaking to Shekhar Gupta on NDTV's Walk the Talk, Shourie also said the CBI clearly knows the identities of the front companies that were used for the 2 G scam.
Shourie has also rejected A Raja's claim that he had merely followed his predecessors while adopting the first-come-first-served principle in giving 2G licences. Shourie added that Raja could not have gone by that route as there were 167 applications lying in the telecom department even before the process of allocation had begun in 2007.
Shourie: The CBI knows to such an extent that the officer has said that these companies' representatives used to bring the note which he should sign on a pen drive. It used to be put into my computer, a print taken and Raja would sign it. To this detail the CBI knows. CBI knows the identity of the front companies that were used.
Shekhar: Front companies for money transactions...bribe transactions?
Shourie: I would have no doubt, otherwise they are not doing charity here...and the correspondence is there. The correspondence of the licenses being given and the company suddenly prospering...they suddenly become very great consultants...they suddenly get very great infrastructure projects...they can't show which is the bridge they have built...the CBI knows the identity of the critical person who handled the money and it is a mystery to the other officers as to why that a particular officer has not been questioned to this date.
The accommodation of allies by the PM... in the terms of reference of the Group of Ministers, the pricing of spectrum was included and Raja insisted that no this should be taken out...and somehow this was taken out from the reference of the Group of Ministers. It could not have been done in our system without the knowledge of the PM.
(Watch the full interview of Walk the Talk with Arun Shourie this Saturday at 9:30 pm on NDTV 24x7)The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the allotment of 2G spectrum licences was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. It has held former Telecom Minister A Raja responsible on many fronts for violating guidelines, indulging in favouritism and costing the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crores by mishandling the allocation of the 2G spectrum in 2008. (
Read: Report Highlights) | (
Watch: CAG explains 2G report) | (
Read: Full text of report)
"85 of the 122 licenses were issued to companies which suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents to the Department of Telecom (DoT) and thus used fraudulent means of getting licenses and thereby access to spectrum" - this is one of the more biting conclusions of the report prepared by the government's auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Companies that benefited from Raja's twisted rules include Reliance Telecom (owned by Anil Ambani), which was allocated spectrum ahead of the others. DoT, the report says, "did not follow its own practise of first-come first-served in letter and spirit."
The report also states that Swan Telecom was given undue advantage, and that it served effectively as a front for Reliance. The charges in the CAG report are that Swan should not have been considered for a license because Reliance Communications held 10.71% stake in Swan - and according to the rules, a telecom operator cannot own more than 10% stake in another telecom company operating in the same service area. Reliance Telecom issued a statement on Tuesday evening that declares it did not have any shareholding in Swan when the license was granted (the CAG report's allegation is that Reliance owned stake when Swan applied for the license).
Swan's application should have been rejected initially by DoT, says the report.
The CAG report also says that nine companies got more spectrum than stated in their contracts. They include Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Reliance, and Aircel.
CAG INDICTS UNITECH WIRELESS
Another big beneficiary of the 2G spectrum allocation was Unitech Wireless, which had no experience in the telecommunication sector.
After Unitech got the license for a throwaway price of Rs. 1,661 crore, it sold 60% stake to Telenor Asia for a whopping Rs. 6,200 crore.
In its report, CAG indicts Unitech saying the high value paid by Telenor was for the 2G spectrum, and not for other inputs as claimed by Unitech. It also says that such huge equity infusion, which should have accrued to the public exchequer, went as a favour to the new licensees for enriching their business.
Speaking to NDTV, the telecom giant Telenor said that its investment in Unitech Wireless conformed to all regulations. (
Watch)