Raja misled Singh on 2G auction: CBI

Ex-telecom minister accused of changing policy to suit some firms

The final arguments in the 2G spectrum allocation case began on Wednesday, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) telling a trial court then telecom minister A Raja “misled” former prime minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters.

CBI said Raja had extended favours to “ineligible” companies, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) and Swan Telecom, by changing the first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy to suit them.

Public Prosecutor Anand Grover highlighted six prime issues in the case: advancement of cut-off date, manipulation of FCFS policy, issue of dual technology, grant of spectrum to ineligible firms, incurring loss by not raising the entry fee and consideration of Rs 200 crore for corrupt practices.

Grover said the cut-off date for receiving applications seeking radio waves was changed to favour Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu).

“[Raja], in fact, misled him [Manmohan Singh] on FCFS and cut-off date,” Grover said, referring to a letter dated November 2, 2007, from Raja to Singh. “Curious things happened in DoT [department of telecommunication] which showed that this [change in FCFS policy] was deliberately done to favour the accused.”

Grover told the court then law minister H R Bhardwaj had proposed referring some key policy issues to an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) but Raja rejected this and wrongly mentioned about it in the letter to Singh.

CBI further argued Swan Telecom was ineligible on the date of application as it was “actually owned by Tiger Traders through Reliance ADAG”.

CBI said despite Swan Telecom and Tata complying with the required conditions of dual technology, Raja did not process Tata's applications, which “mysteriously disappeared” and were untraceable in DoT.
The final arguments in the case, in which Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member of Parliament Kanimozhi and 15 others including top corporate executives are facing trial, will continue on May 25.

The recording of evidence in the case began on November 11, 2011, after the court had framed charges against the 17 accused named in CBI’s first two chargesheets.

CBI had alleged there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in the allocation of the 122 licences for 2G spectrum scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, three top executives of ADAG - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair - are also facing trial.

Swan Telecom, Reliance Telecom and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) are the three firms facing trial.