In a judgement that also came as a relief for the govenrment in its current troubled times, the court dismissed the plea for a CBI inquiry against Chidambaram saying that there was no material to establish that he abused his official position as the then Finance Minister.
Nor had he conspired or colluded with former Telecom Minister A Raja to obtain any pecuniary advantage for himself or any other persons, it held.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan said there was no prima facie material to suggest that Chidambaram deliberately allowed dilution of equity of the two companies, i.E. Swan Telecom Pvt and Unitech Ltd, which are chargesheeted in the case.
While Chidambaram refused to comment on the verdict, Swamy complained it was a bad judgement and that he would file a review petition.
Congress party and several ministers hailed the judgement saying it had vindicated the position of Chidambaram and the government but Opposition parties said still the government was politically and morally accountable for the 2G scam.
However, while absolving Chidambaram of criminal culpability in spectrum allocation and pricing, the bench observed that "poor management" and "inaccurate decision" by itself cannot be said to be a product of criminal conspiracy. (More)
