In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, former Telecom Minister A Raja on Monday submitted a detailed 112- page note to JPC Chairman PC Chacko, claiming that he had done everything in consultation with them.
“I had numerous personal discussions with the Finance Minister and the PM in December 2007 and the first week of January 2008 in Cabinet meetings and otherwise, where they were in agreement with the proposed course of action of the DoT. That is why the Finance Ministry did not raise any further issues regarding entry fee or spectrum charges,” said Raja.
He said after writing letter to the Prime Minister on December 26, 2007 about his plans to allot 2G spectrum and licences, he had met the PM in the first week of January 2008, before allotting licences on January 10.
“Thereafter, I met the Hon’ble PM in the first week of January 2008 and this issue was again discussed and he agreed with the proposed course of action of the DoT,” he said.
Rejecting the CBI charge sheet that he had misled the Prime Minister, Raja said JPC should record Prime Minister’s statement as CBI failed to do so. “Since it has often been alleged that I “misled” the Hon’ble PM, I wish to deal with this issue here. I would first of all point out that this allegation has been made by the CBI, without even recording the statement of the Hon’ble PM! On what basis do they then say that he was misledIJ I do hope that the JPC will not commit the same blunder: if they wish to draw any conclusions on this issue, it is mandatory to record both my statement and the statement of the Hon’ble PM,” Raja said.
Citing the minutes of meetings he had with Chidambaram and their meeting with Prime Minister, Raja said he allotted spectrum only after getting concurrence from both. “Similarly, spectrum was allocated only after I had the concurrence of the Hon’ble PM and Finance Minister,” he said.
He criticised the Supreme Court judgement of cancellation of licences as a misguided one, which derailed the growth of the telecom sector. “Today, the telecom growth story is over. Misguided judicial intervention forced the Government to take unsustainable policy decisions. Raja also blamed the CAG for hyping the loss factor.
Blaming investigative agencies, he said till date they have not found a single money trail against him and his family. “Speaking of prosecutions, I must note with a sense of happiness and pride in my honesty that the combined investigation by the CBI, ED and Income Tax Department could not identify a single rupee of any bribe or gratification received by me or even my extended family for the so-called benefits given by me to the private companies.”