New Delhi:
In what could further strengthen doubts of a deep division within the government's top auditing agency over its report on the 2G spectrum scam, NDTV has learnt that the man who conducted the audit, R P Singh, could have been coerced into signing the final report.
Documents accessed by the channel reveal how Mr Singh, then principal auditor and Director General of Post and Telecommunication, was kept away from the final drafting of the report and was barely given any time to see it.
Mr Singh, incidentally, had valued the loss to the national exchequer accruing from the 2G scam at Rs 2,645 crore (on the basis of inflation costs) which was at great variance with and much less than the Rs "presumptive losses" of 1.76 lakh crore figure pegged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai. The discrepancy, which came to light through a letter written by Mr Rai which was accessed by Right to Information (RTI), immediately sparked speculation of the CAG hiking the 2G loss estimate and having over-ruled its lead auditor.
Sources have told NDTV that Mr Singh was just given 15 minutes to read the final draft before it was sent to Mr Rai.
In an internal note, dated October 20, 2010, the deputy CAG Rekha Gupta is said to have told a junior that the report "is to be put up by tomorrow evening positively...R P Singh has been asked to sign the last page..."
The note also shows that Mr Singh was not given a hard copy of the final report for his perusal but was called to Ms Gupta's office to sign it. Referring to Mr Singh, Ms Gupta, according to the note, reportedly said, "Let him read the final version here (meaning her own office) if he wants."
The revelations again bring to the fore speculation of how Mr Singh could have been pressurised to formally give his nod to the final CAG report which, with its estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the telecom scam, had provided a major impetus to the political storm that had engulfed the government.
It could also lead to a fresh furore as both Mr Rai and Mr Singh are due to appear in front of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is looking into the 2G scam. The parliamentary panel - comprising members of different political parties - has seen Congress MPs led by Sanjay Nirupam questioning the credibility of the CAG report on the scam.