New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today registered a fresh case in connection with alleged irregularities in spectrum allocation during late Pramod Mahajan's tenure as Telecom Minister. Mr Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the Telecom Minister between 2001 and 2003, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was in power.
In the FIR, the investigating agency has named ex-Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh, former director of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) JR Gupta and telecom giants Airtel and Vodafone.
Immediately after registering the case, CBI teams conducted searches at the offices of Vodafone in Mumbai and Delhi and Airtel in Gurgaon, and also at residences of Mr Ghosh and Mr Gupta. The raids came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's direction to the CBI to investigate the allocation of 2G spectrum before the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is the alleged mastermind of the scam.
Mr Ghosh was the Telecom Secretary when Mr Mahajan was the Telecom Minister. The CBI has accused Mr Ghosh and Mr Gupta of conspiracy, criminal misconduct and abuse of official position. The investigating agency alleges that during Mr Mahajan's tenure, Mr Ghosh and some other officials gave additional spectrum at low revenue share to telecom giants like Vodafone and Bharti Airtel.
The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry to look into the allocation of spectrum under Mr Mahajan to certain companies beyond the prescribed limit. In its FIR, it has alleged that the Department of Telecom had increased the base spectrum for telecom companies from 4.4 MhZ to 6.2 MhZ during Mr Mahajan's tenure from 2001 to 2003 and also allocated extra spectrum on subscriber-based criteria.
Responding to the raids, Bharti Airtel said it has always maintained the highest standard of corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
"We would like to categorically state that all the spectrum allotted to us from time to time has been strictly as per the stated government policy," a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said.
"We are providing all details and correspondence to the authorities and shall provide complete support as needed in the matter," the spokesperson added.
Vodafone has also said that their documents are in complete compliance with the governing laws and regulations. An official statement from the telecom giant said, "There was a visit by CBI officials this morning at our office in Mumbai and Delhi seeking information related to the spectrum allocation to operators during 2001-02. All our documents are in complete compliance with the governing laws and regulations. Vodafone India is completely co-operating with the officials and will provide them all the required details as part of their checks." Vodafone entered India in 2007 through its acquisition of Hutch Essar, the Indian arm of the Hong Kong Company Hutchison Telecommunications International.
Reacting sharply to the raids, the BJP said it was an "attempt to malign the NDA government" and "divert attention from the ongoing probe" into the 2G scam. The party also alleged that both the government and the CBI were trying to protect Home Minister P Chidambaram.
"This is a case of complicity...P Chidambaram and A Raja are equally responsible in the 2G spectrum scam. But to save him, the CBI is now diverting the attention and that is why it has raised up a policy matter. This is the worst political abuse by the Congress of CBI and that is why we want CBI to be really independent. The Congress is back to its old tricks but let me assure that whatever they do, they cannot save Chidambaram," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
The trial in 2G spectrum scam case began in a Delhi court earlier this month. Fourteen people including former Telecom Minister A Raja, the alleged mastermind of the scam, have been named accused in the case. Mr Raja is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail.
Mr Raja exited the UPA 2 government in November 2010 after a report by the government's auditor concluded that as Telecom Minister in 2008, he under-valued spectrum and sold it to companies that he favoured even though they were largely ineligible for licenses to run mobile networks.
He has been questioned about why he decided against auctioning spectrum instead of awarding licences on a first-come-first-serve basis. In his defense, he has claimed that he followed the policies introduced by his predecessors in the NDA government that was in power till 2004, when the UPA coalition was elected. He has also repeatedly argued in court that the decisions he took were sanctioned by the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram, who was then the Finance Minister.