Page 13 - English Tehelka Issue 1&2

OpiniOn 2G scam

2G scam: Can multi-crore • Vindicated The Special Judge found former

telecom minister A Raja and 18 others not guilty
‘notional’ loss be reclaimed? in 2G spectrum allotment scam

During the period when the CAG re-
The trial court verdict vindicates the accused due to CBI’s failure to port was presented in Parliament, the
Spotlight present substantial evidence, but there were glaring irregularities functioning of the temple of democra-
cy was virtually at a standstill. The dys-
in allocation of spectrum and even the SC had voiced its concerns
Vipin pubby functional Parliament had led to loss
of credibility as well as promoted other
t was difficult to count the zeroes as a ground for holding people guilty institutions such as Supreme Court and
in a newspaper headline in without legal evidence”. CAG to go beyond their brief.
2011 when the Comptroller and It is thus clear that even the judge The CAG itself has suffered due its
Former resident editor Auditor General’s report placed was not convinced that there was no then chief Vinod Rai seeking attention
of the indian express, in Parliament put the notional corruption or scam involved. He had by putting forward a highly exagger-
Vipin Pubby is a senior I figure of 1,76,000 lakh crore loss no choice but to bank on evidence to ated figure of 1,76,000 lakh crore as
journalist based in in the allocation of second generation prosecute the guilty but, unfortunately, notional loss or what it called “pre-
Chandigarh. He can spectrum. The 2G scam, as the deal was he was not presented any proof. There sumptive loss”. To be fair, the figure
be contacted at subsequently called, became a by-word are a host of questions which remain the CAG has mentioned was a loss of
vipinpubby@gmail. for corruption along with the other unanswered. photo: pushkar viyas 58,000 lakh crore to 1,76,000 lakh
com. The views scams associated with CWG games and One of the most glaring linkages, crore but the higher figure had caught
expressed are personal mining leases. which the CBI failed to investigate, was allocation of 2G spectrum ironically the public imagination. The CAG had
These together led to the taint on the payment of 200 crore by one of the had come in a Supreme Court judge- Besides the political obviously given a flawed calculation to
the UPA Government headed by Dr companies which had succeeded in get- ment in 2012. A division bench of the fallout of the 2G arrive at such a huge figure.
Manmohan Singh and contributed to ting contract to DMK run Kalaignar TV apex court, comprising Justice G S Sin- The Congress and its allies are
the victory of NDA under the leader- station. While the then Union telecom ghvi and Justice A K Ganguly, had cat- scam, the so-called evidently in a jubilant mood. Former
ship of Narendra Modi in 2014. The CBI minister A Raja and others, including egorically said that the material before exposure had also prime minister Manmohan Singh has
Special Court judgment, acquitting all DMK chief Karunanidhi’s daughter the bench proved that former telecom demanded an apology from the BJP for
those charged with corruption in the al- Kanimozhi, produced several wit- minister A Raja “wanted to favour some severely dented “defaming the Congress and mislead-
location of 2G, may have given reasons nesses to claim that the payment was a companies at the cost of public excheq- India’s image and ing the nation”. He also described the
for former UPA partners to rejoice but “genuine deal”, the CBI made no efforts uer” and that the allocation of spectrum former CAG Vinod Rai as a “lackey” of
the judgment has left several important to establish a link between allocation was “wholly arbitrary, capricious and hampered its the BJP. Rai is now the chairman of the
questions unanswered and the issue of spectrum and money paid to the TV contrary to public interest, apart from growth story Banks Board Bureau with huge pow-
remains far from closed for good. company. violative of the doctrine of equality”. ers to appoint Managing Directors of
If anything, the trial court has Among the other obvious irregulari- While quashing the allocations, it Banks. He is also the chairman of the
pointed out gaping holes in the pros- ties were the arbitrary method of alloca- concluded that the “manner in which The perception of India as a country administrative committee of Board of
ecution case and severely indicted the tion of spectrum. While for some major the exercise of grant of letters of intent afflicted with high corruption had Cricket Control of India. Congress has
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for companies the rule of first-come-first- to the applicants was conducted on further dented its image. demanded that he be removed from all
its shoddy investigation and collection served was imposed, for others it was January 10, 2008, leaves no room for The judgment has also opened doors posts.
of evidence. The premier investiga- waived off. The last dates for receiving doubt that everything was stage- to far reaching consequences for differ- With the Special Judge holding Raja
tion agency of the country not only applications were arbitrarily changed managed to favour those who were ent institutions. Although the Supreme and 18 others not guilty, the Supreme
refrained from linking corruption with which led to undue benefits to some able to know in advance change in the Court was dealing with the question Court’s action in quashing the allot-
the deals, it filed a “well-choreographed companies. The CAG pointed out that implementation of the first-come-first- of only allocation of spectrum and not ments can now be challenged. The
chargesheet” only making it a case of of the 122 licenses issued, about 85 did served principle”. the criminality involved, its decision to CBI is also bound to challenge the trial
high profile corruption. not qualify even by the first-come-first- Besides the political fallout of the rely on the CAG report and not asking court verdict and would, hopefully, go
Heads must roll for the the poor served policy. It also found that several 2G scam and the taint that it left on the for an independent inquiry, including better prepared with evidence to prove
investigation. Although the CBI does companies had manipulated their ac- UPA government, the so-called expo- a judicial inquiry, was not correct. It its charges. The fact that the prosecu-
not have a great track record as far as counts and had back-dated entries to sure had also severely dented India’s now appears that it took on the role of tion failed to do enough homework or
convictions go, it should have been become eligible. It appeared as if these image and hampered its growth story. Parliament where the CAG report was had proved to be a failure should not
more thorough in this case. Even the companies were aware of the decisions It had led to cancellation of contracts submitted and the general practise is to mean that the guilty could go unpun-
Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who deliv- likely to be taken for allocation of spec- which included foreign players like have parliamentary sub committees to ished. Some of the facts are too glaring
ered the judgment, said he kept waiting trum. Indeed, the judgment delivered by UAE’s Etisalat, Norway’s Telenor and first examine the reports. It cancelled and too telling to be ignored.
for evidence and stressed that “high the trial court has left gaping holes. Russia’s Sistema which had, in turn, led all allotments without going into the
profile nature of a case cannot be used The most damning comments on the to huge loss of investors’ confidence. merits and demerits of each case. letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 31 january 2018 12 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 31 january 2018 13 www.Tehelka.com

12-13 Opinion Vipin Pubby.indd 2-3 12/01/18 3:57 PM