A Raja had misled then PM on 2G policy matters: CBI to court

Former Telecom Minister A Raja had "misled" then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding policy of first-come-first-served (FCFS) which was to be followed for allocation of 2G spectrum, CBI today told a special court.
Advancing final arguments in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, in which Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others are facing trial, special public prosecutor Anand Grover said Raja had subverted the FCFS policy so that he can "pick and choose" the firms for allocation of the radio waves.
"Raja had misled the then Prime Minister on FCFS. In his November 2, 2007 letter, Raja said to the PM that there was no deviation in the policy. In his another letter, Raja misled the then PM on FCFS policy," Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

"Raja falsely stated to then PM that there was concurrence of the then Solicitor General and the then Foreign Minister (on policy matter). This was a completely false statement by Raja," he said.
Grover told the court that clause 8 of the Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) guidelines was flouted by Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) as it was controlled by Reliance ADAG.
"Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd was a Reliance ADAG company," he said.

Regarding the alleged conspiracy, CBI said Unitech Ltd Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, STPL promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka were in touch with Raja and his erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia when Raja was the Minister of Environment and Forest.

"The prosecution has established an important facet of criminal conspiracy that they were in constant touch with each other," Grover said during the arguments which would continue tomorrow.
Besides Raja, Kanimozhi, Chandolia, Chandra, Balwa and Goenka, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and three top executives of Reliance ADAG - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair - are facing trial in the case.
Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV Director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also accused in the case, besides three telecom companies -- Reliance Telecom Ltd, STPL and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.

In its charge sheet, CBI had alleged a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which was scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.
The CBI counsel also claimed that the Malaysian
authorities were asking "exhaustive questions which they have no business to ask. It seems they are trying the case themselves".
"The Malaysian Attorney General has made up his mind. He has indicated that CBI's request fails to satisfy conditions for issuing summonses. He has come to the view that there is no due criminality. How do we now bring them to India to stand trial? The court will have to issue arrest warrants," counsel claimed in the court.

The CBI had on August 1 approached the court seeking issuance of arrest warrant against both the Malaysia based individuals. It had claimed that the summons could not be served on them.
The accused were chargesheeted for the offences punishable under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On August 29 last year, the CBI had filed the charge sheet containing names of 151 prosecution witnesses and a set of 655 documents, on which it has relied upon during its probe.
CBI had alleged that Dayanidhi had "pressured" and "forced" Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two subsidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006.

The court had on September 17 dismissed the pleas moved by Marans and others challenging the jurisdiction of the special 2G court to try two cases filed by CBI and Enforcement Directorate in relation to the deal, claiming that these matters did not directly or indirectly fall into the category of 2G spectrum cases.