In a development that could hurt the CBI's case against former telecom minister A. Raja, India's main telecom regulatory body, TRAI, today said the former minister, who is now in Tihar jail, followed government policy and that it's not possible to determine the losses due to his alleged mishandling of 2G licenses during his tenure.
CBI claims the Raja conspired with several companies during the 2G sale and cost India a loss to tune of 30,000 crores. Sleuths believe the former minister greatly under-valued the licences to favour interested parties.
Hope for Maran too
This development comes at a time when CBI is planning to expand the ambit of the probe to include the NDA government.
The agency today told the Supreme Court that their probe has shown 'violation' of norms during NDA regime when late Pramod Mahajan and Arun Shourie were the telecom ministers and said the then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh would be examined.
The agency also told the court that the element of 'coercion' by Dayanidhi Maran, who was the Telecom Minister between May 2004 and May 2007, has not been revealed during investigation so far into his alleged role in connection with the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis group.
However, senior advocate K.K. Venugopal appearing for CBI, said the investigation has revealed that the company which was taking over Aircel was in contact with Maran, a DMK MP and his brother.
Investigating the NDA rule
"Jaswant Singh would be examined in due course," Venugopal told a bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly.
Singh was heading the Group of Ministers(GoM) on the issue of limited mobility and unified licencing during the relevant period. The agency, which filed a fresh status report on its probe, said that it was investigating the allocation of spectrum during 2001-07 when Mahajan, Shourie and Maran (UPA 1) were the Telecom Ministers. It informed the court that the probe in this regard would be completed by the end of this month.
When Venugopal was reading portions of the report in a sealed cover, the bench asked him, 'are you going to examine these persons (Shourie, Maran and others)?' "What other steps have been taken for investigation," the bench asked.
The CBI informed that during Mahajan's tenure, members of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have been meeting the then telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh in connection with the Cellular mobile service issue.
Mahajan was Telecom minister between 2001 and 2003 while Shourie held this portfolio from January 2003 to May 2004.