A Raja accused as Criminal Former Telecom Minister A Raja arrived at court in a white car today that was surrounded by cameras.
Guards helped Mr. Raja, dressed in a grey safari suits, make his way inside court, where he greeted the judge with folded hands.
Mr. Raja was arrested yesterday by the CBI along with two men who worked closely with him when he was Telecom Minister- former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura and RK Chandolia who was once Mr. Raja's personal secretary.
In court, the CBI explained why it has accused the DMK leader of criminal conspiracy. The sum of the parts played by Mr. Raja and his associates, according to the CBI, equals 22,000 crores.
The CBI says that in 2008, when the government was allocating 2G spectrum for mobile phone networks, the trio under arrested twisted the rules to benefit a few companies - especially Swan and Unitech.
The licenses for 2G spectrum were not auctioned, as many say they should have been Mr. Raja chose to follow a First-Come-First-Served policy which was set by his predecessors. But the CBI's case is based on his office advancing the deadline for payments and informing only some of the players. Companies like Swan and Unitech seemed to have been tipped off to this, because despite the cut-off date being brought forward, they had their payments ready.
After winning their licenses, Swan and Unitech sold equity to foreign companies much before they began the rollout of their services. The giant profits they made seemed to underscore the point that spectrum had been sold far too cheaply by the government.
Swan paid 1537 crores and sold 45% stake to Etisalat for a profit of 4, 730 crores.
Unitech paid for Rs. 1661 crores for its license, and sold 60% stake to Telenor for Rs. 6200 cr.
Together, these two players cost the government 7, 195 crores, according to the CBI. Both Swan and Unitech have denied these allegations.
"It is highly incorrect to allege that any favour was shown to Unitech during the license process. Unitech Ltd. obtained the telecom licenses (through its 8 wholly-owned subsidiaries) along with 8 other players, after complying with the necessary formalities. While the licenses were issued in February 2008, the first round of investment from Telenor in Uninor was received after 13 months in March 2009," said Unitech in a statement today.
Mr. Raja's lawyers contested all allegations against him, and the DMK leader was heard speaking to them in Tamil. At one point, Mr. Raja said all decisions on 2G were taken by the cabinet.
The CBI says Mr. Raja has been evasive during his interrogation, and that it needs five days to corner him on matters like his bank accounts - and discrepancies that prove he was rewarded for the deals he struck with telecom operators.
Who is Raja's God father?
The BJP has said that the government should not make A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi scapegoats in the 2G spectrum issue and Commonwealth Games scams and asserted that since all decisions were taken by the Union Cabinet and the Prime Minister, a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe alone could bring out the truth.
"The decisions by (former Telecom Minister) A Raja and other ministers, were taken with the permission of the Union Cabinet and the Prime Minister somewhere or the other during the process... so who is Raja's Godfather and who all were involved should be revealed to the nation which is the right of the people," BJP President Nitin Gadkari told reporters.
He stuck to the BJP stand that until a JPC is formed, the whole truth will not come out.
"It will be an eyewash until the whole truth is revealed and the inquiry is made till the last point," Gadkari said.
He alleged that the Congress and UPA were involved in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam and without them this scandal was not possible.
"Others cannot get away with a clean image by sacrificing Kalmadi and Raja - though the two may be guilty. The government cannot make them scapegoats and get away," he said.
He also alleged that the Prime Minister should be held responsible for the policy decisions on 2G spectrum allocation.
"The principal secretary wrote a note that the Group of Ministers taking out the pricing clause would be harmful for the nation. If the Prime Minister had accepted it then, this situation, perhaps, would not have arisen," Gadkari said.
He claimed that "under some pressure" the Prime Minister over-ruled the principal secretary and gave permission.
"In this department (Telecom), in a way a license was given by the Central government to openly indulge in corruption. The Government seems to have outsourced this department to DMK," Gadkari said.
He demanded that a full inquiry should be conducted to bring out the truth "in black and white".
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