The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the 2G scam dismissed on Thursday the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s report on the spectrum allocation as “irrelevant” to the case involving alleged under-pricing and manipulation of the wavelength allotted to 85 companies. The Trai report, filed on August 19, said the regulator did not recommend the 2G auction and that it was not possible to assess the loss to the exchequer from the spectrum allocation of 2008 on first-come-first-serve basis.
Later, the CBI pegged the loss to the exchequer at Rs 30,984 crore from 2G spectrum allocation in 2008.
On Thursday, CBI’s counsel U U Lalit submitted in the special CBI court that Trai’s August 19 letter was unsolicited and at best it could be treated as an opinion. Lalit told the court that CBI would not place Trai’s letter as a prosecution document since it was not sure about circumstances behind the emanation of the document. The investigation in this aspect, he said, has already been completed and the chargesheet was filed on April 2 this year.
“If the court wants, it can summon Department of Telecommunications and put the letter on record. Since I am not satisfied with the document and cannot rely on it, I will not file it as a prosecution document,” Lalit said. He said it was for the court to decide whether Trai's letter discloses some facts or whether it is just an opinion.
The CBI said Trai’s current position was in contradiction with its earlier recommendation of May 2010. In that, the regulator had said that the entry fee, as it existed in 2001, was not a realistic price for obtaining a licence in the changed situation considering the dynamism and growth of the telecom sector. The regulator had observed that the value of spectrum was not correctly reflected in the extant pricing model. The CAG, in its 2G report of November 2010, cited from the Trai recommendation. The allegations against Raja is that he entered into a criminal conspiracy with private parties to give them favour in the allotment of licence/spectrum. The CBI has not levelled the charge of not auctioning the spectrum against Raja.
After the CBI presented its arguments on the Trai report, Raja told the court that Nripendra Mishra, the then Trai chairman, was fully aware that the licences were issued and that he had advised the review of the policy after the issuance of licences. Raja told the court that he was proud of what he had done, referring to the lowering of tariffs due to increased competition in the telecom space. According to Raja, the competition was possible because of the reasonable entry fee for the players. “The CAG’s case will collapse if you see the notings of (then) finance minister (P Chidambaram),” Raja said.
Earlier, Mishra had told CBI that Trai had suggested a re-look at auction procedure, spectrum charges and revenue sharing norms in a holistic manner. On why it was not so mentioned in the final recommendations of Trai, he said that DoT had not sought clarifications on this issue.
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SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY ACCUSES PC
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Thursday moved an application in the trial court demanding that home minister P Chidambaram (who was finance minister at the time of the controversial 2G allocation) be made a co accused in the 2G spectrum scam. Chidambaram is more guilty than Raja, Swamy said, and alleged that the DMK leader and Chidamabaram had decided to fix the combined entry fee and spectrum charge at the price discovered in 2001 which was in was in violation of the Trai recommendation that required entry fee be separated from spectrum fee. Quoting from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s February 2011 speech in the Rajya Sabha, Swamy said “the FM consulted with the telecom minister and the two worked out an agreed formula on the spectrum”.
Swamy, who is pursuing a private complaint in the 2G scam, also sought to examine the CBI officials concerned “to establish the nexus of accused persons with others, who have intentionally not been made accused” by the prosecuting agency.