After seven years of trial, the 2G Court will pronounce its judgments on December 21 in one of the biggest scams to hit the UPA II Government. Special Judge OP Saini on Tuesday ordered all the accused to be present in the court when he gives his verdict in three different cases of the scam.
The all-important first CBI case involves former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and big corporates who benefited from the 2G spectrum allocation. The charges framed under the Prevention of Corruption Act could invite one to seven years imprisonment. The breach of public trust provides for maximum punishment up to life.
The second case was filed by Enforcement Directorate for the transfer of Rs 200 crore bribe money transferred from accused telecom companies to DMK’s Kalaiganar TV. The charges under Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) can invite three to seven years punishment. Apart from Raja and Kanimozhi, the ED also made DMK supremo Karunanidhi’s wife, Dayalu Ammalu, as an accused.
Dayalu’s advocate sough exemption from personal appearance for her client, citing her old age and health condition. “ let’s see,” Udge Saini said.
The third case is known as Essar-loop case. In this case, the CBI charged Essar Group and its promoter Ravi Ruia for setting up a benami company called loop to get telecom license. The punishment ranges from six months to four years in this case.
“I am not a judge. I am a law abiding citizen,” said Raja coming out from the trial court. When asked what he expects from the judgment, Raja told the media, “Where is the question of expectationIJ I faced a trial and have faith in judiciary system of this country. I have faith in the trial court which has all the documents.”
Other accused in the 2G scam case are real estate company owners Sanjay Chandra of Unitech and Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of DB Realty. The Reliance Telecom’s top officials Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair were chargehseeted by CBI in the main 2G case for conniving with Shahid Balwa to float shell companies to get telecom licenses. The trail started in April 2011 and the cases were monitored by the 2G Bench of Supreme Court.