New Delhi: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG),which lent an edge to the clamour for A Rajas ouster as telecom minister,has also come down hard on the corporates who benefited from the controversial 2G spectrum allocation.
The report,which may be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday,specifically focuses on how facts about a top industrialists substantial stake in Swan Telecom it far exceeded 10% were concealed while applying for the 2G spectrum licence.
According to the guidelines,no entity can hold more than 10% stake in two telecom service providers operating in the same circle.Since a telecom company controlled by the industrialist who also has interests in energy and entertainment has a pan-Indian presence,Swan should have been disqualified.Yet,it stayed in the ring and went on to pip several established contenders.The industrialist,one of Indias richest,has denied any link with Swan.
CAGs indictment of corporates for use of fraudulent means to qualify runs into several pages.The report lists not just companies but also the violations the auditor has found them guilty of.The licences issued to various companies floated by corporates such as Swan,Unitech,Loop and Datacom Allianz Infra involved several violations,the auditor has pointed out.As many as 85 of the 122 licences were illegal,the CAG has said.
The auditor has held Raja guilty of favouring a select group of companies in the way he went about issuing a press release on January 10,2008 at 2.47pm,giving companies just 45 minutes to assemble at DoT to collect response letters to their applications.Rajas favourites,who knew of the press release in advance,were able to be ready with performance bank guarantees and other requirements in time.Whats more,the auditor found that 13 applicants were ready with demand drafts drawn on dates prior to the press release being issued,proof that they were aware of the ministers move.
Damning Report
Industrialist,who already had a telecom company,did not disclose his equity holding in Swan when it applied for a licence 85 of the 122 licences are illegal Raja issued a release at 2:47pm on Jan 10,2008,giving just 45 minutes notice to companies to assemble at DoTs office to collect response letters and furnish various guarantees.It was clear that some had been given prior warning
CBI to question Raja soon on 2G row
With the decks cleared for questioning A Raja,the CBI is working hard to frame questions on the basis of sensitive information it has gathered following scrutiny of files it had taken from DoT in October last year.The CBI appears to have established that the cut-off date for applications for allotment of spectrum was advanced from October 1,2007 to September 25,2007 by a notification dated October 10,2007 to benefit some companies
PRABHAKAR MANI
PGDM 1 SEM
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