Documentations of consultations between Chidambaram and Raja on 2G issue

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy released documents at a press conference in Chennai on November 22, 2011 that throws light on the consultations between the then Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Communications Minister A. Raja on the pricing of 2G spectrum case. While one of them was a note titled 'Spectrum Issues Update' from the Department of Economic Affairs of the Finance Ministry, the other was a letter from Mr. Chidambaram to Mr. Raja suggesting that they meet and discuss the issues and later on to present their conclusions to the Prime Minister.

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2G accused can't be jailed indefinitely: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday while granting bail to five corporate executives in the 2G spectrum scam case said that the offences that were charged against him were serious in nature because of the huge losses caused by the exchequer but could not be kept in jail indefinitely. The bench comprising of Justices G.S. Singhvi and H.L. Dattu said that they are conscious of the fact that the offences alleged, if proved, may jeopardize the economy of the country.

It added that, it is not in the interest of justice that the accused should be in jail for an indefinite period.

 The CBI has already completed its investigation and filed the charge sheet where the court said that their presence is not necessary so as to complete the investigation and thus they are entitled to the grant of bail pending the trial on stringent conditions in order to support the apprehensions expressed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The five executives namely Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless, Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom as well as Reliance Group's Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are among the 14 individual accused in the case, led by the Former Minister A. Raja.

The earlier judges had challenged the earlier judgment and common order of the Delhi High Court, rejecting their bail pleas due to the magnitude of the offence and gravity of the accusations laid down against them.

While pronouncing the judgment, Justice Dattu said that there is no doubt that the offences alleged against the appellants is a serious one in terms of the alleged huge loss to the exchequer, and that by itself, should not deter us from enlarging the appellants on bail when there is no serious contention of the respondents (CBI) that the accused if released on bail, would interfere with the trial or alter the evidence.

The court added that when the undertrial prisoners are detained in custody to an indefinite period, Art 21 of the Indian Constitution is violated.

The judgment said that the trial may take considerable time and it looks to us that the appellants, who are in jail, have to remain in jail no longer than the detention period, had they been convicted.

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2G case: Supreme Court reserves order on probe agaibst Chidambaram

The Supreme Court has reserved its order on Subramania Swamy's plea seeking probe into the role of P Chidambaram in the 2 G spectrum case.

The Apex Court later on heard the arguments of both CBI and Swamy.

Subramania Swamy said that the CBI was trying its best to shield the Union Home Minister.

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2G Scam: Court to decide Raja, Kanimozhi charges on Sept 15

Delhi Court will decide on September 15 whether to put A Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others on trial for their alleged role in the 2G Spectrum scam, which according to the CBI has caused a loss of Rs.30,984 crore to the public exchequer.

Special CBI judge O P Saini said today after special CBI Prosecutor U U Lalit wrapped up his final argument, rebutting the plea of innocence by all the accused, including three telecom firms, two bureaucrats, nine corporate honchos and a film maker.

Lalit wrapped up his argument while pleading to the court to frame charges of corruption and other penal offences against all the 17 accused and to put them on trial for their alleged roles in the case.

While concluding his argument, Lalit told the court that Swan Telecom and Unitech got the licences despite their complete ineligibility to get the same.

He said that both the companies off-loaded their shares soon after getting the licences and acquired around RS.73,000 crore in the process.

The special public prosecutor, appointed by the Apex Court  to prosecute the case, however clarified that there is no evidence or material available on record to indicate that there was any quid pro quo by Unitech Wireless Pvt Ltd.

He added that they are conscious so far as the Unitech is concerned, and found nothing to show any money trial against them. He later said that there is no quid pro quo as far as money exchanging hands is concerned in relation to Unitech.

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Kanimozhi to drag PM if put to trial in 2G scam

DMK MP Kanimozhi on Tuesday sought to drag Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in th 2G spectrum case threatening to make him a witness.

She submitted through her lawyer and senior advocate Sushil Kumar before Special CBI Judge OP Saini that if the trial goes on like this against her, then she would summon the Prime Minister as a witness.

The 43 year old Rajya Sabha member and daughter of DMK Chief Karunanidhi said that the Prime Minister has made a statement on the floor of the Parliament that no loss was incurred to the exchequer in the grant of 2G licences.

Her counsel contended that CBI's case is that a huge loss has been caused to the exchequer due to the omission and commission of the acts of the accused, including the former Telecom Minister A Raja.

Kumar said that the moment , the loss factor goes out, the charge of cheating also goes out. He also added that the Prime Minister, the then Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) and the present Telecom Minister (Kapil Sibal) have told the people that no loss has been caused as 2G licences were not to be auctioned.

The DMK MP was refusing the CAG report estimating the loss to be around Rs.1.76 lakh crore in the 2 spectrum allocation scam and CBI's computation  of Rs.30984 crore loss.

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PM should own up responsibility for scams, says CPI(M)

On Sunday, it was demanded by the CPI(M) that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh own up responsibility for the corruption scandals plaguing his government including on 2G and KG basin issues, but stopped short of asking for his resignation. At the end of the two day party central committee meeting, it was told by the CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat to the reporters that, the role of Prime Minister in the scandals involving the 2G spectrum distribution and KG basin is questionable. Mr. Karat said that on why he was not asking for Dr. Singh's resignation, the story for the same is not yet over and it is still unfolding. It was stated by him that the arguments that somebody is honest does not absolve him of the responsibility for what his cabinet does. It was claimed by the senior CPI(M) leader that in both the 2G and KG basin issues, the Prime Minister was fully aware of the developments and even then he did not stop the wrong doings. Mr. Karat alleged that they had written almost six letters to the Prime Minister stating about the wrong doings in the 2G spectrum allotment issue, but he did not do anything for the same and there seems to be an exponential growth in corruption in the UPA-II government. According to him the Left's stated position was that the Prime Minister should be brought under the Lokpal and there is no justification that the Prime Minister will come under its purview only after he retires. Also, everyday a new scandal is coming out whether it is 2G or KG or CWG games. The CPI(M) leader said that the Delhi government has been indicted in the CAG report and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been named. It is a practice that the person should resign if named and not hold the office till being absolved. But in this case this has not happen. He alleged taking on the BJP that the Karnataka BJP was involved in loot of the country's natural resources. Mr. Karat added that, in connection with the mining scam, B.S. Yaddyurappa has resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka, but the same is insufficient and all those who are involved in the scam should be prosecuted as well.

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2G scam: Congress slams reworked PAC report; BJP says nothing wrong

Murli Manohar Joshi, the Chairman of the reworked report of the Public Account Committee (PAC), which questions the role of the Prime Minister in the 2G spectrum allocation, has sparked a row, with the Congress dismissing the report as motivated and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserting that there is nothing wrong with the same. According to the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the report is said to create more trouble for the government already battling corruption charges, on the face of which he asserted that the cabinet cannot be micro- managed by the Prime Minister. On Saturday, Joshi, a senior BJP leader circulated his reworked report among the PAC members. The role of Manmohan Singh and the then finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the allocation of 2G spectrum is questioned by the report, which allegedly resulted in the loss of crores of rupees to the national exchequer.  Including the irregularities in the 2010 Common Wealth Games, the report is said to provide more ammunition to a combative opposition determined to pin down the government over a slew of corruption charges. On Sunday the Congress and the UPA members of the PAC reacted sharply to Joshi's reworked report and indicated their intention to reject the same. The removal of Joshi from the post of PAC and accused him of being interested in politics was demanded by them. It was stated by the Congress that the re-circulation of the controversial PAC report amounted to making the committee partisan and motivated. The congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that clearly the chairman and the BJP are bent upon making the committee political, partisan and motivated. The PAC chairman or the PAC is not oxygen generating medical units to breathe life into a constitutionally dead PAC report.

Also according to him it has to be decided whether it is more appropriate for a larger or more specific committee like JPC set up for this purpose to look into the matter or the PAC which is general and is riven with a vote of no-confidence in its chairman and holds no live reference on the 2G issue as of now.

Sanjay Nirupam, the Congress MP and PAC member, rubbished the reworked report stating that the same deserves to be thrown in the dustbin.

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2G scam: Not a single paisa was paid to A Raja says Ratan Tata

Tata Group Chairman A Ratan Tata has rejected allegations of giving bribe to Former Telecom Minister A Raja to secure 2G spectrum allocation and said charges been made at the court proceeedings were an attempt at diversion

He said while answering to the questions being asked by one of the shareholder at th AGM of the Tata Steel Company that there are defamation laws existing in the country due to which people can say people can say anything in court and get away with it.

He said that not even a paisa was paid to Mr. A Raja and the money was paid for the hospital and for purchasing medical equipments meant for the benefit of the people. Since no hospital was built and no equipments were purchased, no money was paid to him.

Tata while replying to the question on reports that the company had paid Rs.20 crore to a hospital in his constituency, Tata said that they do not make any payments in advance and morover here such a statement was purely made in courts so as to create a diversion.

On Tuesday, jailed Swan Telecom's promoter Shahid Usman Balwa had said that the Tata's had given a sum of Rs.20 crore to a Hospital in Tamil Nadu by way of donation.

Tata told the shareholders at the 104^th AGM of Tata Steel that they have not paid Rs.20 crore to A Raja. Its being said in the court for other reasons of diversion.

He said adding that lots of things have been said in public because lots of information has been given to the agencies. Besides that they said that the matter is sub-judice and said they have never asken or given any sort of bribe or gratification to A Raja or anybody else.

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