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Took all decisions after taking Manmohan’s consent: A Raja

Former telecom minister A Raja, accused in 2G spectrum case, recorded his statement before a Delhi court on Monday. Raja said that he did not take any ‘unilateral decisions’ on spectrum allocations and all decisions were taken after discussions with other cabinet ministers.

The direct conversation between accused (A Raja), was recorded before special CBI judge OP Saini, who is designated to look after 2G case. A set of draft questionnaire containing 1,718 questions running into 824 pages was given to all accused earlier and A Raja was scheduled to record his statement on 5 May.

Raja said that he took all the decisions after taking consent of prime minister. ‘I did not take any unilateral decisions, but acted on the proposals of DoT (Department of Telecom) and discussions with other Cabinet ministers and the then Solicitor General and after properly apprising the Prime Minister and taking his concurrence,’ Raja said.

When judge asked why the case is against you (Raja). He replied that due to complete ignorance of policy formation and government functioning by investigating officer (CBI officers). ‘There was a complete ignorance of policy formation and Government functioning by the investigating officers. The monitoring of the investigation by the Supreme Court led to the CBI investigating the case in a predetermined manner and fabricating oral evidence, since there was no documentary evidence to support the prosecution,’  the former telecom minister said, adding that  adverse media publicity also contributed to the case against me.

He also commented on audit report conducted by CAG, estimated the loss of 1.76 lakh crore to government exchequer, as ‘flawed’ and which made the issue sensational. 

‘The flawed CAG report made the issue sensational without even taking into account the views of the DoT and without properly appreciating Government policy and procedure,’ said Raja. 

‘I was not given an opportunity of hearing by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,’ he added.

Court also asked why the witness produced by prosecution are against you, to which he replied that they have done so because of ‘fear’. ‘Those, who have deposed against me, have done so under fear of being made accused in this case, ‘replied Raja.


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