CBDT not involved in phone-tapping of businessmen, politicians: Govt
The Lok Sabha was today rocked by noisy scenes after members belonging to the AIADMK party cited a newspaper report that alleged the government lost Rs 1 lakh crore by offering 2G telecom licences on a first-come-first-served basis instead of an auction.
AIADMK members targeted Telecom Minister A Raja, who belongs to the rival DMK party.
Soon after the House assembled in the morning, AIADMK members were up on their feet, demanding resignation of Raja from the Union Cabinet. Raja was not present in the House to defend himself, but his party colleague T R Baalu fought back. The uproar forced the chair to adjourn the House for almost an hour.
The newspaper article which the AIADMK members were citing referred to Nira Radia, who runs Vaishnavi Communications and some other public relation companies. The newspaper report had alleged that Radia was in constant touch with Raja and played a key role in the award of 2G licences to some of the new players.
Vaishnavi Communications refused comment on the issue.
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The newspaper had also reported that communication purportedly between the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax Department showed that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was involved in tapping Radia's phones. The agency said there were also direct conversations between Radia and Raja.
The government, in a statement issued in the evening, rejected the allegations. It said the I-T authorities had not tapped phones of influential businessmen, politicians or advertising professionals. The release, however, did not specifically say if phones of Radia were tapped or not.
The CBI is already investigating allegations of a criminal conspiracy between public servants and some private persons in the grant of 2G licences in 2007-08. Allegations have been made that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under Raja was bending the rules to benefit some players.
The companies, which got licences included Unitech Wireless, Swan Telecom, (now known as Etisalat DB) Datacom and STel among others. Some of these, such as Unitech, had sold off its majority stake to Norway’s Telenor and Swan to UAE-based Etisalat.
In Parliament, no minister stood up to defend the telecom ministry or the minister. Later the Congress also left its alliance partner to defend itself. “We don’t comment on sub judice cases or speculative issues,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said when asked about the newspaper report and the subsequent uproar.
AIADMK leader in the Lok Sabha, M Thambidurai, said he wants to know from the Prime Minister about the outcome of the CBI enquiry that was initiated on the 2G auction. “There are serious allegations against a minister. The other day a CBI enquiry was ordered. But, the officer was transferred. I want to know what happened to the enquiry. We want to know from the Prime Minister as to what is happening on this matter.”