Raja ‘misled’ Manmohan on 2G policy matters: CBI to court
NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday argued before a Special Court that former Telecom Minister A. Raja had “misled” the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to allocation of 2G spectrum.
Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said that Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.Mr. Grover argued that Raja had granted spectrum to “ineligible” companies such as Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.
He said that 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.
Referring to the letters written by Raja on November 2, 2007, to Dr. Singh, Mr. Grover said, “He (Raja), in fact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and 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 prosecutor said.
Mr. Grover also argued that Raja had changed the cut-off date for receiving applications by the companies for grant of 2G licences to favour accused firms particularly Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.
On the issue of grant of licence to ineligible companies, the agency said that accused firm Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd 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 final arguments in the case would continue on May 25, the next date of hearing.The case pertains to the 2G spectrum allocation in which Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and 15 others, including some top corporate executives are facing trial.
