FRONT PAGE | Friday, October 23, 2009 | Email | Print | 
CBI raids Raja aide’s offices
J Gopikrishnan/Rakesh Singh | New Delhi
The noose has begun to tighten around those responsible for the scandalous auction of 2G spectrum at throwaway prices last year. The CBI on Thursday raided the offices of Wireless Planning Cell and Telecom Minister A Raja’s trusted man and Deputy Director General (Access Services) AK Srivastava at Sanchar Bhavan here.
The raids came about after the CBI registered a case on Wednesday against unknown officials of the Department of Telecommunication and unknown private persons/companies and others under Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code read with 13 (1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, an official spokesperson said. The case was registered following a reference from Central Vigilance Commission on October 15 to the CBI after the vigilance watchdog found “blatant” violations in the spectrum allocation, official sources said.
During searches conducted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI, incriminating documents were recovered even as the searches continued till the filing of this report.
A CBI statement said, “It has been alleged that there had been serious irregularities in the award of unified access services licences to private companies. As per the information received, there was criminal conspiracy between certain officials of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and private persons/companies and others to award the licences to these companies by putting a cap on the number of applicants against recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and by awarding licences to private companies on first-come-first-served basis on the rates of 2001 without any competitive bidding.”
The CBI spokesperson said, “Searches have been conducted on Thursday by the CBI for collection of incriminating documents in the Wireless Planning Cell (WPC) and in the office of Deputy Director General (Access Services), Sanchar Bhavan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi.” Sources said the CBI sleuths questioned several officials in the WPC wing and other key persons dealing with the application files for licences and spectrum. The CBI officials also reportedly interacted with Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas.
The CBI search team is learnt to have seized the crucial files exposing the spectrum scam. The file carrying the noting of Telecom
Minister A Raja and his then private secretary RK Chandolia, currently rehabilitated as the Economic Adviser of DoT, was also seized by the investigating officers, sources said. The agency officials, sources added, also took custody of the files exposing the alleged role of then Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura and files pertaining to controversial telecom companies Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless Services, alleged to be major beneficiaries in the scam.
The CBI action came a week after the CVC recommended a probe into the controversial 2G spectrum allocation. The Government had referred the matter to the CVC following objections from the then Finance Secretary (DoT) Manju Madhavan over the licensing of spectrum on the controversial first-come-first-served basis.
Besides Swan Telecom and Unitech India, CBI sources said, another company Datacom is also under the scanner of the investigating agency and their offices are likely to be searched in the coming days.
However, a defiant Raja rejected demand for his resignation and sought to implicate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the controversial spectrum allotment issue.
“The question of my resignation does not arise. All decisions on spectrum licensing have been taken in accordance with procedures laid down by TRAI and in consultations with the Prime Minister,” he told reporters late in the night.
Raja said nowhere has the CBI pointed out that the Minister has had a role in spectrum allotment. “I stand by my reply in Parliament and I have already justified the major policy decisions,” he said, adding that he did not expect the BJP or for that matter AIADMK to support him on the issue.
Spectrum scam
DoT awards licences without Cabinet approval on the first-come-first-served condition. Estimated loss of Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer
Licences were granted in 2008 at a rate fixed in 2001. TRAI recommendations for auction of the spectrum violated
Cut-off date dubiously advanced from October 1, 2007, to September 25, 2007
Real estate companies like Swan and Unitech are major beneficiaries
Swan got the licence for Rs 1,537 cr and, within weeks, the company offloaded 45 per cent of its shares to the UAE-based Etisalat for Rs 4,500 cr
Unitech got the licence for Rs 1,650 cr. Within weeks, it also offloaded 60 per cent of shares to Norwegian Telenor for Rs 6,200 cr. As Telenor is operating in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Union Home Ministry raised objections
Raja relaxed lock-in periods and acquisition-merger norms for Swan and Unitech
Raja had armtwisted BSNL to enter into an unprecedented Intra-Circle Roaming Agreement with Swan. It was done just a few days before the Etisalat deal. This deal with BSNL helped Swan to boost its share price
Swan had allotted shares worth Rs 380 cr in December 2008 to a Chennai-based small company, Genex Exim, registered just two months earlier with only Rs 1-lakh capital. The deal between the companies is believed to be a kickback amount. Interestingly, Swan had changed its name thrice in a year.
Email | Print | Rate:
|