Union I&B minister Manish Tewari on Saturday asked the CAG to debate his findings in the 2G spectrum allocation report on a public platform.
Talking to the media in Chandigarh, Mr Tewari, challenging the findings of the Comptroller and Audit-or General, said the “CAG has given an answer to the people of the country” on misleading figures concer-ning the loss shown in the allotment of 2G spectrum.
He said the “mythical figure” of a `1.76 lakh crore loss to the public exchequer, as mentioned in the CAG report, was being questioned by the CAG’s own officer, and added that the fallout of the CAG report was impacting the growth story of the country after the 2G scam was highlighted.
A former CAG official, who dealt with the 2G audit, had on Friday rubbished the `1.76 lakh crore presumptive loss finding and had claimed that BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi had influenced the final audit report. This has given the Congress an opportunity to strike back at the principal Opposition party as well as the CAG.
Retired CAG official R.P. Singh, talking before the media, claimed he had pegged the 2G loss at only `2,645 crore, but when the final report was brought to him for signature, it had `1.76 lakh crore as the loss figure. Mr Singh had said that CAG officials had met Mr M.M. Joshi just days before the report was finalised.