Former Telecom Minister A Raja had "misled" the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to 2G spectrum allocation in conspiracy with others to favour some firms, the CBI today contended before a special court.
The agency said the favour was done to "ineligible" firms Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd at the behest of Raja who changed first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy to suit them.
It said that cut-off date for receiving applications from applicants seeking radio waves was advanced to favour Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Anand Grover told Special CBI Judge O P Saini that then Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj had proposed that some key policy issues be referred to the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) but Raja rejected the proposal and wrongly mentioned about it in the letter written to the then Prime Minister.
Referring to the letter written by Raja on November 2, 2007 to the then Prime Minister, Grover said, "He (Raja), infact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and cut-off date."
"Curious things happened in DoT (Department of Telecommunication) which showed that this (change in FCFS policy) was deliberately done to favour the accused," he said.
On the issue of grant of licences to ineligible companies, CBI said that accused firm Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) was ineligible on the date of application for grant of radio waves as it was "actually owned by Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd through Reliance ADAG".
CBI also said that four-counter theory to allot letters of intent (LoIs) to the applicant firms was "deliberately" done to favour the accused and when some officers of DoT objected to it, they were transferred.
"It was arbitrary and there was an element of criminality in it," he said.
The final arguments in the case would continue on May 25, the next date of hearing.
