India 2G scam ... A Gandhi inspired culture ?
The framing of charges by the court doesn't mean that guilt has been established against any of the accused, but it does signal that the court has found prima facie merit in the CBI's chargesheet against them and given its nod for presenting evidence and witnesses in its bid to prove their guilt. This stage also means that the accused can now make fresh bail applications.
The court fixed the date for formal commencement of trial as November 11. Special Judge O P Saini accepted all the charges pressed by the CBI against the accused, including the additional charge of Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) which carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The list of accused contains several high-profile personalities. Apart from Raja and Kanimozhi, the accused include Swam Telecom boss Shahid Usman Balwa, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka, Unitech's Sanjay Chandra, film maker Karim Morani, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's private secretary R K Chandolia and three Reliance ADAG executives, Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.
Juge Saini charged all the accused for criminal conspiracy (section 120B), criminal breach of trust (Section 409), cheating (section 420), forgery for purpose of cheating (section 468) and forgery (section 471). Every accused pleaded not guilty and preferred to face trial when the court gave them an option. So, a keen legal battle is now on the cards which will test CBI's ability to prove its allegations.
The court has also charged the accused under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act de! aling wi th the criminal misconduct of a public servant and giving and accepting bribe. Raja along with former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura have also been charged with criminal conspiracy in furtherance of criminal breach of trust by a public servant.
"Accused A Raja and Siddharth Behura dishonestly in pursuance to the conspiracy, allocated valuable spectrum over which you were having dominion, which was entrusted to you in the capacity of being public servants, to Swan telecom and Unitech Wireless in violation of law with a view to cause wrongful gain to these companies and, thereby, you committed an offence punishable under Section 409 read with 120B IPC and within my cognizance," the Judge Saini said.
The court, however, said that Raja was "alternatively" charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy. Finding prima facie evidence against Kanimozhi while framing charges against her, the court said she had been "in regular touch" with Raja to serve the cause of party-run Kalaignar TV, of which she was a director and 20% stakeholder. The court also noted that Kanimozhi, along with Raja, was "pursuing the cause of Kalaignar TV not only for getting registration of the company from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting but also for getting it in the Tata Sky bouquet".
The judge noted that Kanimozhi was "an active brain" behind the operation of Kalaignar TV and was also widely covered by the channel. "Thus the amount of Rs 200 crore paid by Dynamix Realty to Kalaignar TV through Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Limited and Cineyug Films (of Karim Morani) was not a genuine business transaction but in the nature of illegal gratification paid in lieu of the Unified Access Service licences, valuable spectrum," the judge said.
For the Reliance Telecom executives - Doshi, Pipara and Nair - the court said they and the company "in pursuance to the conspiracy passed on an ineligible company to Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka knowing it that it was ineligible on the date of applications" and! abetted Balwa and Goenka of Swan Telecom to obtain UAS licences. The court charged them under Section 109/420 read with 120B IPC. Explaining their role, the court said, "The accused structured networth of Swan telecom out of funds arranged from Reliance Telecom or its associates for applying to the DoT for UAS licences in 13 circles where Reliance Telecom had no GSM spectrum ... so that DoT could not reject its applications on the basis of UASL guidelines".
Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd and its boss Sanjay Chandra have been charged with cheating and conspiracy. The court said there was prima facie evidence that he had conspired to get the licence despite the fact that the company was allegedly ineligible for it. It said both Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless "obtained pecuniary advantage as they were able to off load their shares for huge consideration to their foreign partners, that is, both obtained pecuniary advantage to the tune of Rs 7,105 crore without anything to their credit except the UAS (Unified Access Service) licences under the relevant date."
The court also added a charge under Section 193 (giving false evidence) and 120B IPC against Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Rajiv Agarwal, Asif Balwa, Karim Morani and Sharad Kumar for hatching criminal conspiracy to file false evidence when they presented "the bribe trail of Rs 200 crore" as a loan transaction.
The court rejected the contention of the defence that sanction was not taken for the prosecution of Raja and Kanimozhi. It said that Raja abused his position as a minister and not as a Lok Sabha MP, just as Kanimozhi did not abuse her position as a Rajya Sabha MP. "I find myself in agreement with special public prosecutor (U U Lalit) that there are no allegations in the charge sheet that either of the two accused (Raja and Kanimozhi) misused or abused the office of Member of Parliament," the judge said.
Special CBI judge O P Saini also ordered that trial in the case will commence from November 11 with all the accused refusing to plead guilty to various offences.
"You all committed an offence punishable under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) 468 and 471 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 or in alternative Section 11 read with Section 12 and 13(2) read with 13 (1b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and within my cognisance," the judge said in his 700-page order.
Following is the chronology of the events related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which Raja is the main accused:
May, 2007: A Raja takes over as Telecom Minister.
Aug, 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access Service (UAS) Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Sept 25, 2007: Telecom Ministry issues press note fixing deadline for application as October 1, 2007.
Oct 1, 2007: DoT receives 575 applications for UAS licences of 46 companies.
Nov 2, 2007: The Prime Minister writes to Raja directing him to ensure allotment of 2G spectrum in a fair and transparent manner and to ensure that licence fee was properly revised. Raja writes back to the Prime Minister rejecting many of his recommendations.
Nov 22, 2007: Finance Ministry writes to DoT raising concerns over the procedure adopted by it. Demand for review rejected.
Jan 10, 2008: DoT decides to issue licences on first-come-first-serve basis, preponing the cut-off date to September 25, from October 1, 2007. Later on the same day, DoT posted an announcement on its website saying those who apply between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm would be issued licences in accordance with the said policy.
2008: Swan Telecom, Unitech and Tata Teleservices sell off a part of their stakes at much higher rates to Etisalat, Telenor and DoCoMo, respectively.
May 4, 2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.
May 19, 2009: Another complaint was filed to the CVC by Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.
2009: CVC directs CBI to investigate the irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum.
July 1, 2009: Delhi HC holds advancing of cut-off date as illegal on a petition of telecom company S-Tel.
Oct 21, 2009: CBI registers a case and files an FIR against "unknown officers of DoT and unknown private persons/ companies under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
Oct 22, 2009: CBI raids DoT offices.
Nov 16, 2009: CBI seeks details of tapped conversation of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to find out involvement of middlemen in the grant of spectrum to telecom companies.
Mar 31, 2010: CAG says that there was large scale irregularities in the spectrum allocation.
Apr 2, 2010: CBI DIG Vineet Agarwal and DG I-T Milap Jain, who were investigating the case, transferred.
May 6, 2010: Telephonic conversation between Raja and Niira Radia made public by the media.
May, 2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves the Delhi High Court seeking investigation into the scam by SIT or CBI.
May 25, 2010: Delhi HC dismisses the petition.
Aug, 2010: Appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the High Court's order.
Aug 18, 2010: HC refuses to direct the Prime Minister to decide on a complaint by Janata Party chief Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in 2G scam.
Sept 13, 2010: SC asks government, Raja to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by CPIL and others alleging there was a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the grant of telecom licences in 2008.
Sept 24, 2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of Raja.
Sept 27, 2010: Enforcement Directorate informs SC of probe against firms suspected to have violated FEMA. Says can't deny or confirm now Raja's involvement in the scam.
Oct 8, 2010: SC asks government to respond to CAG report about the scam.
Oct 21, 2010: Draft reports of CAG placed before the Supreme Court.
Oct 29, 2010: SC pulls up CBI for its tardy progress in the investigations into the scam.
Nov 10, 2010: CAG submits report on 2G spectrum to government stating loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to exchequer.
Nov 11, 2010: DoT files affidavit in SC saying CAG did not have the authority to question the policy decision as per which licence were issued to new players in 2008.
Nov 14, 2010: Raja resigns as Telecom Minister
Nov 15, 2010: Kapil Sibal given additional charge of Telecom Ministry.
Nov 20, 2010: Affidavit on behalf of PM filed in Supreme Court. Rejects charge of inaction on Swamy's complaint.
Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC it will file charge sheet in the case within three months.
Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC role of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia would be questioned by it.
Nov 24, 2010: SC reserves verdict on Swamy's plea seeking direction to PM for grant of sanction to prosecute Raja.
Nov 25, 2010: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja.
Nov 29, 2010: CBI files status report on 2G spectrum scam probe.
Nov 30, 2010: SC questions CVC P J Thomas's moral right to supervise CBI's probe into 2G spectrum scam as he himself was Telecom Secretary at that point of time.
Dec 1, 2010: SC directs original tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others be handed over to it.
Dec 1, 2010: Raja questions CAG findings in the SC.
Dec 2, 2010: Government places recorded tapes in the SC.
Dec 2, 2010: SC comes down heavily on Raja for bypassing and overruling PM's advice to defer allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.
Dec 8, 2010: SC favours including in the probe period since 2001 when first-come-first-serve was the norm for spectrum allocation.
Dec 8, 2010: SC asks Centre to consider setting up of a special court to try 2G spectrum scam case.
Dec 8, 2010: ED submits report. Says money trail covers 10 countries, including Mauritius.
Dec 14, 2010: Another PIL in SC seeking cancellation of new telecom licences and 2G spectrum allocated during Raja's tenure.
Dec 15, 2010: Swamy files petition in a Delhi court seeking his inclusion as a public prosecutor in 2G spectrum case.
Dec 15, 2010: Swamy mentions in complaint that Raja favoured "ineligible" private companies Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless Ltd in allocating the spectrum.
Jan 4, 2011: Swamy moves SC seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licences.
Jan 10, 2011: Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G licenses. Also issues notices to 11 companies which allegedly did not fulfill the roll-out obligations or were ineligible.
Jan 30, 2011: Government's decision to regularise licences of the companies which failed to meet the deadline for roll-out obligation challenged in the Supreme Court.
Feb 2, 2011: Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja's former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia arrested and next day they were remanded in CBI custody.
Feb 8, 2011: Raja remanded to two more days of CBI custody. Behura and Chandolia sent to judicial custody.
Feb 8, 2011: Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom, arrested by CBI.
Feb 10, 2011: SC asks the CBI to bring under its scanner corporate houses which were beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum. Raja remanded to CBI custody for four more days by a special CBI court along with Balwa.
Feb 14, 2011: Raja's CBI custody extended for three more days. Balwa's custody extended for four days.
Feb 17, 2011: Raja sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody.
Feb 18, 2011: Balwa sent to judicial custody.
Feb 24, 2011: CBI tells a Delhi court that Balwa facilitated transaction to Kalaignar TV.
Feb 28, 2011: Raja seeks judicial proceedings through video conferencing stating that he faces threat to life from
fellow prisoners.
Mar 1, 2011: CBI tells SC that 63 persons are under scanner. Raja allowed by CBI court to appear before it via
video-conferencing.
Mar 14, 2011: The Delhi High Court sets up special court to deal exclusively with 2G cases. Balwa also allowed to
appear via video-conferencing.
Mar 29, 2011: SC permits CBI to file charge sheet on April 2 instead of March 31. Two more persons -- Asif Balwa
and Rajeev Agarwal -- arrested.
Apr 2, 2011: The CBI files its first charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Apr 25, 2011: CBI files second charge sheet and court issues summons to Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar and Karim Morani
taking congizance of the charge sheet.
May 6, 2011: Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar appears before court and files bail pleas while Morani sought exemption from
appearance on medical ground.
May 7, 2011: Court reserves order on Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar's bail applications.
May 14, 2011: Court defers order on their bail pleas for May 20.
May 20, 2011: Court rejects bail pleas of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar and orders their forthwith arrest.
June 20, 2011: SC rejects Kanimozhi's bail plea
July 25, 2011: Arguments on Charge begins. Raja seeks to make Prime Minister and former finance minister P Chidambaram
as witness.
Sept 22, 2011: CBI defends Chidambaram in SC, blames DoT for all wrongs.
Sept 26, 2011: CBI moves plea for framing fresh charge for criminal breach of trust against Raja, Chandolia and
Behura.
Sept 29, 2011: CBI says role of Anil Ambani being probed, gives a virtual clean chit to Tata and Videocon group.
Oct 9, 2011: CBI files FIR against Maran and his brother.
Oct 22, 2011: Court finds prima facie evidence to put on trial all 17 accused including Raja on various counts like criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating and forgery.
But the most serious charges in the case, controversially introduced by the CBI just a few weeks ago, are criminal breach of trust by a public servant for Mr Raja and Siddharth Behura, who was Telecom Secretary, and criminal conspiracy to cause criminal breach of trust by a public servant for the 12 others. The maximum sentence for these charges is life imprisonment.
As the trial begins, the spotlight will remain relentlessly on Mr Raja and Kanimozhi, the daughter of heavyweight Southern politician M Karunanidhi who heads the DMK, a major partner in the UPA coalition at the Centre. The arrest of his favourite child has tested the collaboration between the Congress and his party, though both sides have on record reiterated that their partnership is steady. Mr Karunanidhi visited Sonia Gandhi for 15 minutes this morning before driving to Judge Saini's court where he dropped off Kanimozhi's mother. The DMK chief is expected to meet with the Prime Minister at 6 pm.
"Raja and Kanimozhi are very confident that they have not done anything illegal or wrong, so they will come out clean," said Senior DMK leader TKS Elangovan.
Mr Raja has been in jail since February. Telecom executives like Sanjay Chandra of Unitech Wireless and Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara of Reliance Telecom were imprisoned in April. Kanimozhi was arrested in May.
Because the charges have been framed now, the 14 ! people a ccused have a better shot at leaving jail. All of them except Mr Raja have already applied for bail. CBI sources have said that the agency, which has opposed two petitions by Kanimozhi for bail in the past few months, may not fight her latest request, scheduled to be heard on Monday by Judge Saini.
The telecom scam was webbed, according to the CBI, in 2008 by Mr Raja when he was Telecom Minister. He ignored advice, including from the Prime Minister, to auction second-generation or 2G spectrum. Instead, he allotted licenses and accompanying second-generation or 2G spectrum on a first-come-first-serve basis that were twisted to help companies Mr Raja allegedly conspired with. The minister set a deadline for filing applications in September 2008; in January 2010, he made a last-minute announcement that licenses would be given to those who filed their "Letters of Intent" first. The deadline for filing these documents and cheques was within hours of Mr Raja's revision of rules. A few companies like Swan and Unitech were ready with their cheques - the CBI believes they had been tipped off by the minister. And amid a fair amount of chaos, 122 licenses were issued to nine companies at a cost of Rs. 1600 crores each.
Swan Telecom allegedly repaid Mr Raja with a 214-crore cheque routed through a maze of companies to Kalaignar TV, a local channel in Chennai. Kanimozhi and her stepmother own 80 per cent of the channel. Kanimozhi's lawyers have said the money was a loan which was returned with interest, and that she was not involved with the daily management of the company. The CBI has contested this, describing her as "the active brain" behind Kalaignar. The agency has said it has uncovered the money trail for this bribe.
Mr Raja, like the others accused, has rejected all charges against him. In his defense he said that the Prime Minister, and P Chidambaram who was Finance Minister at the time, were kept informed of his plan of action. If they disagreed with his guidelines, he has challenged! , they c ould have over-ruled him. He has also threatened to call the PM as a witness.
The telecom scam hurtled the government into crisis mode in November, when the government's auditor declared the scam had cost India Rs. 1.76 lakh crores, forcing a reluctant Mr Raja to resign as Telecom Minister. The CBI has said it believes the losses are in the range of Rs. 30,000 crores. The government's regulator for telecom policy - TRAI - has said it does not believe there were any losses since it does not believe spectrum should have been auctioned.
Many of the CBI's heftiest accusations have been contested by the government. For example, the CBI says the three Reliance executives in jail - Gautam Doshi, Surender Pipara and Hari Nair- set up Swan Telecom as a front for their company to collect more spectrum and licenses than were legally permissible. But the Law Ministry has said that after examining the details, Swan cannot technically be considered "an associate" of Reliance.
The CBI alleges both Swan and Unitech Wireless made huge profits by buying their 2G licenses cheaply and then selling stake to foreign partners at huge profits. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has said that the transactions were legal because "what occurred was dilution of equity and not the sale of equity."
Like Mr Sibal, who infamously declared in January this year that the telecom scam had not caused any losses to the national exchequer, the government's regulatory body for telecom- TRAI - has undermined the CBI by stating that it does not believe spectrum should have been auctioned. Any losses calculated, TRAI insists, are prone to error because they are based on presumptive market conditions and prices.
The CBI has also has also said in court that it has not found any evidence of a kickback from Mr Chandra's Unitech Wireless to Mr Raja.
The 2G trial commences at a time when the country is in the mood to hold politicians accountable for the rot that has been backlit by a series of swindles. The net w! orth of the 2G scam allows it to grab top spot on that list. The anti-corruption movement headed by Gandhian Anna Hazare delivered such massive crowds that the Opposition has quickly scrambled to appropriate the agenda, with LK Advani of the BJP launching a rath yatra to promote "clean governance."
Mr Raja's repeated references to the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram have echoed within all opposition parties who say the PM must take accountability for allowing the telecom scam to play out. A document from the Finance Ministry, prepared this year, caused a political seizure - it said Mr Chidambaram could have enforced an auction of spectrum when he was Finance Minister and Mr Raja was busy mapping out a crooked policy.
The excavation of that document by a Right to Information activist allowed the Opposition to demand with more surety the resignation of Mr Chidambaram, who is now Home Minister. A week after the document was presented in the Supreme Court, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee clarified it was prepared with inputs from different ministries, and that he did not agree with all of its inferences. Various petitioners like Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy have said the Supreme Court should order the CBI to investigate Mr Chidambaram's role. Though the CBI has said this is not needed, the Supreme Court has yet to indicate its stand.
The Complete List of those accused in the 2G Scam
Former Telecom Minister A Raja; Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura; Former Personal Secretary to A Raja RK Chandolia; Group MD, Reliance- ADAG, Gautam Doshi; Senior Vice President, Reliance- ADAG, Surendra Pipara; Senior Vice President, Reliance- ADAG, Hari Nair; Former MD, Unitech Wireless Sanjay Chandra; Promoter of DB Realty and Swan Telecom Shahid Balwa, Promoter and MD, DB Realty and Swan Telecom Vinod Goenka; MD, Kalaignar TV Sharat Kumar, DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi; Director, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Rajiv Agarwal;! Directo r, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif Balwa; Promoter of Cineyug Films Karim Morani; Reliance Telecommunication; Unitech Wireless Pvt Ltd (Tamil Nadu) and Swan Telecom.
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