FM says note naming Chidambaram was a joint effort; Maran probe complete, FIR soon.
The preliminary investigation against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran is complete and a First Information Report (FIR) will be filed against him and some others within a few days, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The matter is before top officials. CBI submitted a status report of its investigation to the court in a sealed cover.
Parallel to that, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, detailing the circumstances in which former finance minister P Chidambaram was drawn into the 2G spectrum allocation controversy. The letter sought to clarify that a note to harmonise the various moves made by different government actors on 2G spectrum was a joint effort and not carried out by the finance ministry on its own. Mukherjee indicated the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked for the note.
Thus, the legal and political ramifications of the 2G spectrum allocation case headed towards a denouement.
P C Chacko, chairman of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on 2G, Pawan Kumar Bansal, parliamentary affairs minister, and V Narayanaswamy, minister of state in the PMO, met Mukherjee late at night to discuss any potential fallout of the 2G spectrum case in court on the proceedings of the JPC meeting.
In court, CBI said it had evidence against Maran in the 2G scam, covering various offences, including showing “undue favour” to Aircel. The main charges against Maran are likely to be conspiracy, misuse of official position, giving bribe and accepting bribe. An FIR along these lines is a prelude to arrest.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was asked by CBI to give it all the original files related to the allocation of spectrum and wireless operating licences for all DTH operators. CBI has returned the files of all the other companies to DoT except that of Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd. That suggests it is using these to formulate the FIR. Earlier, DoT had sent the original files related to Reliance Big TV, Tata Sky and Bharti Telemedia, among others, all of which have telecom businesses within their groups. These files have since been returned.
An investigation is also in progress in the matter of Essar and Loop Mobile, CBI told the bench of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice A K Ganguly.
The charge against Maran, telecom minister in the first tenure of the UPA government, is that he pressured the Aircel owner to sell his stake to Maxis group of Malaysia. After the deal, huge investments flowed to Sun Networks, owned by Maran and his brother. In the initial report, CBI has found Maran had delayed Aircel’s licence application in furtherance of this aim.
The Essar group is also under the scanner, as it allegedly took the Mauritius route to get a 2G licence for Loop Telecom. It is suspected a Mauritiun company, Capital Global, had invested in Loop Mobile and Loop Telecom in violation of the DoT guideline setting a ceiling on investment.
Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the Centre for PIL, alleged CBI did not conduct an honest investigation against Maran or in other scandals in the spectrum allocation. He wanted a comprehensive probe into the whole 2G scam, with the Supreme Court monitoring it at every stage. He will resume his arguments tomorrow.
Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has focused his arguments on Chidambaram, who is accused of collaborating with former telecom minister A Raja, now in jail, in the spectrum policy. The arguments continue tomorrow.
Swamy's arguments had set off a minor earthquake in the government, with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and former finance minister P Chidambaram arguing over the ministry's responsibility in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. On Wednesday, Mukherjee sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), setting out a timeline about a communication sent from his office to the PMO, following a request from the latter.
In this letter, Mukherjee said then cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and principal secretary to the PM, T K A Nair, directed an official, Vini Mahajan, to seek a comprehensive note from the finance ministry about the sequence of events that led to the allocation of 2G spectrum. It was in this note that an official - supposedly after prodding from the PMO - included Chidambaram's comments. Mukherjee's clarificatory letter said the note was an inter-ministerial one.
Mukherjee's letter said with 10 different versions of various ministerial and government actors on the allocation of 2G spectrum, it was decided there should be a consolidated and comprehensive background note harmonising all view points from various ministries.
When asked about his letter to the PM, Mukherjee's only comment was that communication between a minister and the PM was confidential.
