Willing to play a role in examining the 2G spectrum scam, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today said his ministry will inspect the books of companies involved in the muddle provided a reference is made to it.
"We don't want to look over anxious," he said, adding, "if somebody (an authority) refers it, we will get into it...We will not go beyond company law violations, if the authorities that are already carrying out investigations ask us to look into it. We will see if there are non-compliance issues".
Khurshid, however, clarified that his ministry would not do anything which would hampering ongoing investigations by different government agencies.
"We will not stand there and fish to see which company can be baited," he added.
When asked if the MCA will take any suo moto action as in the case of Unitech Wireless, of which the Ministry is carrying out technical scrutiny, the Minister said that it was routine inspection.
"Technical scrutiny is carried out by Registrar of Companies regularly. It's in their area, they will do it. We have in-house mechanism to do things. Where there is no issue of compliance, we don't meddle," Khurshid said.
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Official auditor Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report on the 2G spectrum allocation, which was tabled in Parliament recently, named several companies including Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications, as beneficiaries of the spectrum scam that is estimated to have caused the Government exchequer a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
Among the other industrial houses that benefited from 2G spectrum policy were Unitech, Datacom (now Videocon), S-Tel, Swan and Loop Telecom, which were given licences in January 2008.
On the issue of spectrum allocation to existing operators beyond the contracted quantity of 6.2 MHz, CAG has found Sunil Mittal-led Bharti to be the biggest beneficiary, among private players, with 32.4 MHz in 13 circles, followed by Vodafone-Essar with 19.6 MHz.
The auditor has pegged revenue loss on account of new licences at up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore besides Rs 36,993 crore on account of additional spectrum allotment to the existing operators.
The sensational CAG report and the political brawl that followed, also led to the resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja.
Besides CAG, investigating agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate are looking into the scam.
The scam has also raised a political storm with the Opposition Parties stalling Parliament and demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the matter.