FIR also filed against former DoT secretary Shyamal Ghosh and deputy director general J R Gupta.
Still reeling under the repercussions of the 2G scam, the Indian telecom sector has been hit by a fresh crisis, with industry biggies —Bharti Cellular (now Bharti Airtel), Hutchison Max & Sterling Cellular (now Vodafone Essar) — being named in an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today, over alleged irregularities in spectrum allocation. This time, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime during Pramod Mahajan’s tenure as telecom minister has come under attack.
FIR was also filed against former Department of Telecommunications (DoT) secretary Shyamal Ghosh and former deputy director general of DoT JR Gupta in the same case, alleging criminal conspiracy under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
CBI has alleged that Ghosh and Gupta, with Mahajan’s permission, took a hurried decision on January 1, 2002, to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz — in violation of the report of a technical committee in the telecom ministry.
The investigating agency carried out raids on the premises of Ghosh, Gupta, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar across Delhi, Gurgaon and Mumbai. It registered a case of excess allocation of spectrum to the two telcos in 2001-02, when Mahajan was the telecom minister. According to CBI, the decision of allocating additional spectrum to these companies caused a loss of Rs 508 crore to the exchequer during 2001-07. After the five-year NDA rule, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government came to power in 2004. According to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) estimates, the 2G scam, under A Raja as the telecom minister, is alleged to have caused a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Bharti Airtel’s spokesperson said the company had always maintained the highest standard of corporate governance and regulatory compliance. “We would like to categorically state that all the spectrum allotted to us from time to time has been strictly in line with the stated government policy. We are providing all details and correspondence to the authorities and shall provide complete support as needed in the matter,” the company said.
Vodafone officials also confirmed the searches conducted by CBI in its official premises in Mumbai and Delhi seeking information related to the spectrum allocation to operators in 2001-02. “All our documents are in complete compliance with the governing laws and regulations. Vodafone India is completely cooperating with the officials and will provide them all the required details as part of their checks,” the company spokesperson said.
A CBI statement said: “Pramod Mahajan, the then Minister for Telecom and Communications, has been excluded (from the FIR) since he expired.”
The allegation by CBI against Ghosh and Gupta is also that additional spectrum, a scarce natural resource, was allocated to telcos at a cost lower than what was “applicable in normal prudence”.
“The accused persons (Ghosh and Gupta) decided to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz by charging spectrum fee of an incremental 1 per cent adjusted gross revenue (AGR) only for allotting additional spectrum from 6.2 MHz to 10 MHz, instead of charging incremental 1 per cent AGR on allotment of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz and charging incremental 2 per cent AGR on allotment of spectrum beyond 8 MHz, as applicable in normal prudence,” the FIR said.
Ghosh and Gupta have also been accused of extending “undue favour” and causing “undue cumulative advantage of approximately Rs 508.22 crore to beneficiary companies”, from the time of allocation of such additional spectrum till such decision was reversed by DoT in 2008. The agency has said that the government exchequer suffered “a corresponding loss”.
CAG had earlier estimated the value of excess spectrum held by telecom companies, till April 2010, at Rs 36,729 crore, going by the price benchmark set by 3G spectrum auction. Also, this value has been arrived at, taking into account all the telecom companies holding additional spectrum, and not just Bharti and Vodafone.
Ghosh had recently told the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam that the controversial first-come-first-served policy was meant to be for a “limited period”. He had told the panel that the policy was not intended for “future spectrum sales”, but was framed for allocation of Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) licences.
A similar case was earlier registered against DMK MP and former telecom minister A Raja where he was charged with criminal conspiracy along with additional charges of receiving illegal gratification in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Siddharth Behura, the telecom secretary during Raja’s tenure, is also currently lodged in Tihar jail with Raja, defending the charge of criminal conspiracy besides criminal breach of trust by a public servant.
The criminal culpability in Raja’s case can go up to life imprisonment, while in this case, going by current charges, a maximum punishment of up to seven years can be awarded.
On December 16, 2010, the Supreme Court had directed CBI to investigate the irregularities committed in the grant of licences from 2001 to 2007 with particular emphasis on the loss caused to the public exchequer and corresponding gain to the licensees. Accordingly, CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry in January 2011.
In yet another telecom case, on October 9, 2011, after a preliminary enquiry of six months, CBI registered a case of criminal conspiracy, illegal gratification and abuse of official position against another former telecom (then textile) minister Dayanidhi Maran, and his brother and Sun TV promoter Kalanithi Maran over their role in the Aircel-Maxis deal . The agency had also lodged a complaint against Ralph Marshall, and T Ananda Krishnan of Maxis Group, besides the companies involved in related transactions, such as Astro, Sun Direct, Maxis. CBI had said in its FIR that Marans had received illegal gratification to the tune of Rs 549.96 crore in the garb of share premium invested in Sun Direct TV.
