Objecting to the “delaying tactics” by the accused persons, the CBI on Friday told the Delhi High Court that the 2G spectrum case was “a case of monumental loss and a shame to the nation”. Challenging the acquittal of former Telecom Minister A Raja and others, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justice SP Garg that huge loss to the public exchequer has been caused due to the spectrum allocation scam.
CBI was arguing on the first day of the hearing in the appeal against the trial court verdict, objecting to the demands of the accused for need of time to file reply and claiming on the non-delivery of notices to some accused. “This is a case of monumental loss and a shame to the nation,” Mehta said. The ASG also opposed the plea of the accused seeking more time to file their response saying “delaying tactics” were being adopted by them to prolong the proceedings.
After the initial arguments on the claim on non-receipt of notice by the accused and seeking more time for filing replies to CBI and ED appeals, the High Court posted the CBI’s plea challenging their acquittal for August 2 while the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea has been fixed for August 6.
During the hearing, lawyers for some of the accused in the case said that a number of charge sheets have been filed in these cases and they should be heard separately. The court had also allowed the interim plea of the ED for maintaining status quo with regard to the properties worth around Rs 223 crore which the agency had attached in the money laundering case.
Apart from Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, telecom operators Reliance Anil Ambani Group, Essar, erstwhile Swan Telecom’s Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra were acquitted by trial Judge OP Saini in December 2007. CBI and ED filed appeal in Delhi High Court in March arguing that the trail court “totally and wrongly” ignored the proof submitted by then and even took notice of the solid details of kickbacks transferred to the accused from telecom operators through banks.