In a grey safari suit and the bravado gone from his countenance, former telecom minister A Raja on Thursday faced the court as an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, a day after his arrest by the CBI. The court of special CBI judge OP Saini sent him to the agency’s custody for five days.
The CBI accused the DMK leader — he is the first former minister to be arrested by his own government — of causing a loss of Rs22,000 crore to the exchequer by favouring some telecom firms in the spectrum allocations. His aides, former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura and personal secretary RK Chandolia, were also produced before the court.
They face charges of criminal conspiracy and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, under which the maximum punishment is of seven years or fine or both.
All three abused their official position by their acts of omission and commission, the CBI argued. The agency’s counsel, Akhilesh, said at least two telecom firms — Swan Telecom and Unitech — benefited by selling their stakes to various other global firms soon after getting licences. The estimated loss to the government by grant of licences to these two companies comes to Rs7,105 crore, it said.
“Swan was allotted UAS licences for 13 circles for Rs1,537 crores. It off-loaded 45% of its share in the licence before roll out to Etilsalat of UAE for Rs 4,200 crore. Similarly, Unitech was allotted UAS licences for 22 circles for Rs1,658 crore. It off-leaded 60% of its share to Telenor of Norway for Rs6,100 crore even before roll-out,” he said.
The former minister’s custody was essential as he had been evasive in replying to the agency’s queries during his interrogation, he added.
Raja’s counsel Ramesh Gupta opposed the plea saying his client was innocent. All the decisions with regard to granting of 2G spectrum licences had the approval of the Union cabinet and various statutory panels, he added. “Raja was not solely responsible in the alleged scam,” Gupta contended.
