2G scam: Raja to oppose charge framing against him from Monday
Former Telecom Minister A. Raja, arrested for his role in the 2G scam, will begin his arguments on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against him from Monday.
With the CBI completing its arguments on framing of charges against Raja and 16 others, including 3 telecom firms, the former minister will begin his arguments from July 25.
"Arguments on charge for prosecution heard and concluded. Put up for arguments on charge for the accused persons on July 25, 2011," Special CBI Judge O P Saini said.
While concluding his arguments, Special Public Prosecutor U.U. Lalit told the court that going purely by the note on revision of licence fee by Indian Revenue Service officer Manju Madhavan or the Prime Minister's letter, a loss of Rs 30,000 crore has been caused to the public exchequer.
Lalit said besides Raja, others involved in the scam that caused huge loss to the exchequer, included former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, Raja's erstwhile aide R.K. Chandolia and corporate honchos Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Sanjay Chandra.
"The figure of Rs 30,000 crore would be across the board. But on basis of material before the court relating to Swan Telecom and Unitech Telecom, a loss of Rs 7,100 crore has been caused," Lalit said. Lalit pointed out that except the current spectrum licence, Swan Telecom had no other licence and even Unitech Wireless was ineligible for the spectrum.
While pressing on all the charges that the CBI has levelled against various accused in the charge sheet, Lalit argued that charges under sections 192 (for fabricating false evidence) and 193 (the punishment for false evidence) under Indian Penal Code too is also made out against them.
The CBI had begun its arguments on framing of charges against the 17 accused in the case from July 21. 14 accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi are presently lodged in Tihar Jail.
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