2G: Raja had ‘misled’ Manmohan, says CBI
16 April 2015 5:38 AM IST
Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms, particularly Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd in allocation of 2G licences. The prosecutor added that Raja had granted spectrum to “ineligible” companies such as Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.
“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,” he added.
Referring to the letters written by Raja on November 2, 2007, to Singh, Grover said, “He (Raja), in fact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and the 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 final arguments in the case will be held on May 25, the next date of hearing. In its chargesheet, the CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in the allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.
Special CBI Judge OP Saini framed charges against 19 accused, including 10 individuals and nine companies, who were chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the Money Laundering Act.
So far, the court has recorded the statements of 154 CBI witnesses, including Reliance ADAG chief Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani and former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.
“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,” he added.
Referring to the letters written by Raja on November 2, 2007, to Singh, Grover said, “He (Raja), in fact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and the 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 final arguments in the case will be held on May 25, the next date of hearing. In its chargesheet, the CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in the allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which were scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012.
Special CBI Judge OP Saini framed charges against 19 accused, including 10 individuals and nine companies, who were chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the Money Laundering Act.
So far, the court has recorded the statements of 154 CBI witnesses, including Reliance ADAG chief Anil Ambani, his wife Tina Ambani and former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.
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