Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Monday reiterated, in 2G special court, that all actions he took was with the concurrence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he did nothing unilaterally.
Raja has also blamed CBI and CAG for working in a “predetermined manner” against him. He said the monitoring of Supreme Court and sensationalism due to the flawed CAG report had worsened the situation for him even as he denied all charges against him. He also claimed there was no loss to the excheqeuer.
“I did not take any unilateral decision, but acted on the proposals of DoT and discussions with other Cabinet Ministers and the then Solicitor General and after properly apprising the Prime Minister and taking his concurrence. My actions do not amount to abuse of official position or any other offence,” Raja told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.
The Court also recorded the statements of former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura. The recording of statements under Section 313 of CrPC started on Monday and the Court had devised a set up to record two accused at a time to fasten the procedures. Recording of Raja was finished and Behura will resume on Tuesday along with another accused RK. Chandolia. The accused were responding to the 1718 questions posed by the Court after the trial by CBI’s prosecution.
Deposing before the court, Raja said that monitoring of 2G scam probe by the Supreme Court led the CBI to investigate the case in a “predetermined manner” and there was no loss to the exchequer as claimed by the probe agency. He also told the court that the “flawed” CAG report made the whole issue “sensational” and there was complete ignorance of policy formation and government functioning by the officers investigating the case.
“I was not given an opportunity of hearing by the Supreme Court. The flawed CAG report made the issue sensational without even taking into account the views of the DoT and without properly appreciating Government policy and procedure,” he said.
“There was a complete ignorance of policy formation and Government functioning by the investigating officers. The monitoring of the investigation by the Supreme Court led to the CBI investigating the case in a predetermined manner and fabricating oral evidence, since there was no documentary evidence to support the prosecution. Adverse media publicity also contributed to the case against me,” Raja said.