17.4.15

Raja misled Manmohan: CBI

Former telecom minister A Raja had “misled“ then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to 2G spectrum allocation in conspiracy with others to favour certain firms, the CBI told a special court, while advancing final arguments in the 2G scam case.
Seeking the accused be convicted in the case, the CBI said Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date for receiving applications from applicants seeking radiowaves to illegally favour accused firms in allocation of licences.
The agency said there was criminality on the part of accused and the favour was done to “ineligible“ firms Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd at the behest of the telecom minister who changed the first-come first-served (FCFS) policy to suit them.
Special public prosecutor (SPP) Anand Grover told special CBI judge O P Saini that then law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj had proposed that some key policy issues be referred to the empowered group of ministers but Raja rejected the proposal and wrongly mentioned it in a letter to Singh.
Referring to the letter written by Raja on November 2, 2007 to the then PM, Grover said: “He (Raja), in fact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and cutoff date. Curious things happened in DoT (Department of Telecommunication), which showed that this (change in FCFS policy) was deliberately done to favour the accused.“
On the issue of grant of licences to ineligible companies, the CBI said that accused firm Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) was ineligible on the date of application for grant of radio waves as it was “actually owned by Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd through Reliance ADAG“.
The agency also said that four-counter theory to allot letters of intent to the applicant firms was “deliberately“ done to favour the accused and when some officers of the DoT objected, they were transferred. The final arguments in the case will continue on May 25.

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