The ongoing final arguments in the 2G scam-related money laundering case in which former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 17 others are accused, will resume on December 14, a special court today said.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who was scheduled to hear the final arguments today, deferred the matter after he was informed that Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover was unable to come for the proceedings as he was not well.
Due to the absence of the special prosecutor, the court also deferred the final arguments in 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which CBI has chargesheeted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others.
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Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier alleged that Rs 200 crore "illegal gratification" was transferred to DMK-run Kalaignar TV by DB group firm through a "circuitous route" in return for grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd by Raja.
It had alleged that a conspiracy was hatched by Raja, Kanimozhi, DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal and others and Rs 200 crore was the "proceeds of crime".
Raja, Kanimozhi, Ammal and 16 others, including nine firms, are facing trial in the case in which ED had on April 25, last year filed a charge sheet under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The court had on October 31, last year framed charges against the accused saying Raja, allegedly in connivance with Kanimozhi, Ammal and other co-accused, was involved in "parking" of illegal gratification in Kalaignar TV.
The other accused are Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and P Amirtham. All of them are out on bail.
In the CBI's case, besides Raja and Kanimozhi, ex-Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra, STPL promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and three top executives of Reliance ADAG -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair -- are facing trial.
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.
All the accused, who are out on bail, have denied the allegations against them.
Outlining the issue of cut-off date, he said 'overrding
principle' followed by DoT was to introduce new operators only after first ascertaining that there was adequate spectrum and new operators could only be introduced after taking the positive recommendation of TRAI.
He said that in 2003, the Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) regime started after the Group of Ministers accepted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recomendation and after cabinet approval, it was implemented.
"What happened between 2004-2007 before Raja took over charge was that 51 new UASL were given and records suggest that DoT never asked TRAI whether they can issue licence or not or did they assess the availabilty of spectrum as per the norm of overriding principle," Raja's counsel said during the arguments, which would continue tomorrow.
He further argued that there are multifarious examples to show that even when there was no availability of spectrum in a particular circle, DoT gave licenses to operators in circles like Mumbai Metro and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that in the charge sheet it was alleged that there was no over-riding principle of prior assessment of spectrum or zone of consideration.
During the proceedings, Raja himself argued before the court and said that UASL clearly said that spectrum was not essential for giving the licence.
CBI had earlier alleged in the court that 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.
Regarding the alleged conspiracy, CBI had said Unitech Ltd Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka were in touch with Raja and his then private secretary R K Chandolia when Raja was the Minister of Environment and Forest.
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.
All the accused have denied the allegations levelled against them by CBI.
