Former Union telecom minister A Raja was questioned for nine hours today by the Central Bureau of Investigation for alleged irregularities in 2G telecom spectrum allocation, at the agency’s headquarters here.
“I have fully cooperated with the investigative agency. Nothing can be shared with you, as the investigations are still pending,” he told journalists after coming out of the CBI office.
Raja had flown in from Chennai on Wednesday after receiving a summon earlier this week. He came to the CBI office for questioning at 10:30 am.
“Raja is being questioned in relation to the case registered into the allocation of Unified Access Service licences,” CBI deputy inspector-general and spokesperson, Bineeta Thakur, told reporters.
According to CBI sources, Raja was quizzed on the taped conversation he had with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia about allegedly favouring certain telecom companies and advancing the cutoff dates for allocation of spectrum. And, on the observations in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on the allocations.
It was the CAG report which had led to the resignation of Raja’s ministership on November 14. He was given the telecom portfolio on May 18, 2007, and was reappointed in 2009, after the UPA alliance got another term in office.
The CBI had searched the premises of 12 companies in Tamil Nadu and here, along with Raja’s official and residential premises, as part of the probe. It is also investigating the alleged role of Raja’s relatives in some of these companies: one charge is that the latter were front companies for telecom firms.
The Supreme Court has asked CBI and the Enforcement Directorate for status reports on their investigations by February 10, when the case would come up there for further hearing.
Earlier this week, Radia was questioned by the CBI at her South Delhi farmhouse. The CBI has also questioned former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chief, Pradip Baijal.
