Raja 'misled' Manmohan Singh on policy matters: CBI to court

The CBI argued that Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences

CBI today argued before a Special Court that former Telecom Minister A Raja had "misled" the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to allocation of 2G spectrum.

Commencing final arguments in the case, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said that Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.

Grover argued that Raja had granted spectrum to "ineligible" companies like Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.

He said that the first-come-first-serve (FCFS) policy was changed to favour some of the accused and Raja even rejected the proposal of the then Law Minister who had proposed that some of the key policy issues be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers.

Referring to the letters written by Raja on November 2, 2007 to the then Prime Minister, Grover said, "He (Raja), infact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and cut-off date."

"Curious things happened in DoT (Department of Telecommunication) which showed that this (change in FCFS policy) was deliberately done to favour the accused," the prosecutor said.

Grover also argued that Raja had changed the cut-off date for receiving applications by the companies for grant of 2G licences to favour accused firms particularly Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.

On the issue of grant of licence to ineligible companies, the agency said that accused firm Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd was ineligible on the date of application for grant of radio waves as it was "actually owned by Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd through Reliance ADAG".

The final arguments in the case would continue on May 25, the next date of hearing.

The case pertains to the 2G spectrum allocation in which Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others including some top corporate executives are facing trial.

The recording of evidence in the case had started on November 11, 2011, after the court had framed charges against the 17 accused named in the first two charge sheets filed by the agency.

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

HOW RAJA MAY HAVE MISLED SINGH

* According to a CAG report, Raja didn’t heed advice from the PM and the law ministry on spectrum allocation 
 

* Raja had kept PM in the dark by passing on partial information
 

* To verify the legality of the process adopted by the telecom ministry, DoT had approached the law ministry and sought an opinion from either the attorney general or the solicitor general. The then law minister H R Bharadwaj had noted it was necessary that the whole issue be first considered by an EGoM
 

* Raja had responded to the law minister’s note and written to the PM the next day, saying the decision of referring the matter to an EGoM was “totally out of context”. In this letter, Raja had also told the PM that DoT had decided to go ahead with the process of giving out licences on first-come-first-served basis
 

* Replying to Raja’s letter, the PM had said: “The minister (Raja) should pay “urgent consideration” to the “issues relating to enhancement of subscriber-linked spectrum allocation criteria... Let me know of the position before you take any further action in this regard”
 

* Raja had replied that not auctioning licences was considered by Trai and the Telecom Commission and both were against an auction. The CAG report, however, said Trai’s recommendations were never discussed in a meeting of the full Telecom Commission

Compiled from earlier Business Standard reports

CONFLICTING REPORTS

Findings of PAC

* PMO and DoT misled the PM
 

* The PM’s desire to keep PMO at an arm’s length helped the telecom minister execute his “unfair, arbitrary and dubious designs”
 

* Raja’s letter to the PM was delayed by 12 days
 

* The govt should recover the money lost from companies concerned. Trai should be given more powers in spectrum allocation, licensing and pricing
 

* Former DoT officials should not be appointed as Trai chairmen

Findings of JPC

* Clean chit to the PM
 

* Decisions taken between 1998 and 2004 by the NDA govt of the day questioned
 

* NDA’s decision of offering incumbent telcos a migration package to a revenue-share model caused a loss of about Rs 42,000 cr
 

* The NDA govt blamed for extending licence terms from 10 to 15 years
 

* Resource was deliberately undervalued to favour “some” telecom operators, causing loss to the exchequer