MM Joshi refutes RP Singh's charges, claims no wrong-doing

Interestingly, when Singh had appeared before JPC, he tried to distance himself from CAG report, told members he was pressurized by seniors to sign

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi refuted allegations that he had tried to influence report on 2G spectrum allocation scam by secretly meeting the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) at his residence.

The senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) argued that according to the guidelines of the relation between CAG and PAC, the national auditor acts like a friend, philosopher and guide of the PAC and can meet the PAC chairman whenever there is a need.

“These are technical subjects and CAG acts like a guide, philosopher and friend of PAC. This is mentioned in the guidelines of the relation between CAG and PAC. We have to prepare questions for PAC members and understand the issue, so CAG can meet PAC anytime. This attack on CAG and Pac is to end the discussion on corruption because there is an attempt to prove the figure of Rs.1.76 lakh crore wrong so that all the other loss figures can be challenged,” said Murli Manohar Joshi, the PAC chairman.

 

The controversy came to light after RP Singh, former director general of audit, post and telecommunication, claimed that the presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore given by CAG was not part of the draft report prepared by him and his report didn’t contain any such figure.

“The audit of Ministry of Telecom was directly under my charge and I had prepared a draft audit report covering each and every aspect. My report did not contain any loss figure,” said RP Singh, former director general of audit, post and telecommunication.

Joshi explained that Singh had initially given a power point presentation to PAC on the 2G spectrum allocation but he never complained that he was being forced by his senior in the CAG to sign the report. The BJP leader also dismissed allegations that he had met senior officials of CAG at his residence to influence the PAC report on the alleged scam. Joshi clarified that the report was not prepared by him but the Lok Sabha Secretariat and demanded proof from Singh to substantiate his allegations.  

“RP Singh had deposed before the PAC several times and he had given a power point presentation also but he never complained that he didn’t agree with the report or he was being pressurized by his seniors to sign the report. He didn’t even indicate it also. Why is he saying all this now? RP Singh should be probed. What happened between RP Singh and CAG is not the concern of PAC,” said Joshi.

Interestingly, when Singh had appeared before joint parliamentary committee (JPC), he had tried to distance himself from the CAG report and told the members that he was pressurized by his seniors to sign the report. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had snubbed Singh on the claims and had told him that government servants could always write a note or refuse to sign a document if they didn’t agree with it.

Meanwhile BJP has come under severe attack from the Congress party after the allegations. Leading the attack was United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi who said that BJP had been exposed.

“Yes, certainly I think so,” said Gandhi while talking to media when she was asked if BJP had been exposed by Singh.  

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who was also part of the JPC investigation in the 2G spectrum, demanded that Joshi and CAG Vinod Rai should explain the allegations.

“The issues raised by RP Singh, former DG, P&T, in CAG are very germane. What is extremely important is that in May 2010 when the draft report was prepared, the loss was quantified at Rs 2,645 crore, but in November 2010 when the report was presented in Parliament, this loss jumped to Rs 1.76 lakh crore. How did this leap of faith take place?” Tewari questioned.