Judge Saini says allegations of bribe paid to Kalaignar TV not absurd or unfounded
The special court hearing the 2G case said on Saturday that it was impossible to arrive at the exact amount of loss due to the scam. “There are allegations of loss to the exchequer in the charge sheet also, of which rough estimates have been arrived at and that too, in my humble view, rightly, as in such a situation it is not possible for anyone to calculate the exact amount of loss,” special CBI judge O.P. Saini said.
But the “loss or quantification of loss in exact terms is not the essential requirement of offence of criminal conspiracy to cheat or to commit criminal misconduct.”
[While one estimate of the CAG report pegged the loss at Rs.1.76 lakh crore, the CBI alleged a loss of Rs. 30,984 crore in its charge sheet. A covering letter attached to a TRAI report on spectrum pricing, however, said “telecom services and spectrum should not be seen as a source of revenue for the government.”]
On the alleged bribe of Rs. 200 crore paid by Dynamix Realty to Kalaignar TV, Mr. Saini said: “The allegations [of Rs.200 crore bribe] are not imaginary, absurd or unfounded and, as such, at this stage of the case, shall be taken at their face value. It is purely a question of fact and any observation at this stage may prejudice the parties.”
The accused had submitted that no one would pay a bribe 16 months after obtaining the alleged favour. On this, the court said: “I do not find any merit in the submissions of the accused, at this stage of the case, that the transaction may be treated as a transaction of loan without any taint of criminality.”
The judge also said there was no “contemporaneous documentation” of the transaction and that, according to the CBI, the money was returned when the agency's investigation gathered momentum. Mr. Saini further referred to this transaction in various tranches to state why some of the accused — Karim Morani, Asif Balwa, Rajeev Aggarwal, Sharad Kumar and Kanimozhi — were also a part of the conspiracy. “The transfer of this huge amount in such a systematic and calculated manner indicates that they [accused] were acting in pursuance of the conspiracy,” the court said.
On the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja's defence that he had made telecom services affordable and brought in huge investment into the sector, Mr. Saini said: “The supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law have to be maintained and the same cannot be allowed to be compromised in the garb of fresh investment. Affordability of mobile phones does not mean that public servants would start subverting the law and filling their own pockets by taking bribes.”
However laudable the objectives of a policy, they should not be achieved illegally, the court said. “The same is the case for seeking private investment, domestic as well as foreign. For seeking investment for the implementation of the policy of the government or during such investment by private players, one cannot be allowed to violate the constitutional and statutory norms.”
Mr. Saini pointed out that prima facie the material on record indicated that the “conspiracy” started after Mr. Raja became Telecom Minister and that “its physical manifestation started becoming clear in August-September 2007 on receipt of TRAI recommendations dated August 28, 2007,” adding that it continued until the last tranche of Rs.50 crore was received by Kalaignar TV on August 7, 2009, as illegal gratification.
Rejecting the defence contention that all the accused were not known to each other, the court said: “All the accused were known to each other and it is contrary to the record to say that they were wholly unknown to each other and, as such, were not capable of entering into any conspiracy. Even otherwise, it is not necessary that all conspirators should know each other,” adding there were witness statements alluding to this prima facie view.
Reliance Telecom to move High Court
Meanwhile, one of the accused companies, Reliance Telecom, whose three employees have also been charged, said in a statement: “Reliance Telecom and the three executives will immediately be moving the Delhi High Court for quashing of the charges.”
Keywords: 2G spectrum scam, 2G case, Telecom scam
It is surprising that when the matter is with Court and the matter is sub judice, how can one make such comments in any directions. Let the Court decide all issues. It is premature to accuse, charge and judge issues related to matters in the Court. Political battle to score points be left to political parties only.
In India, media can make or mar the image of any one. The way compaign is going on after CAG reports,it is difficult for any one to judge who is right and who is wrong. However, the smear compaign is on and will continue for ever even after the Court decisions on many cases.
Do not know much but if Raja and Chidambram are not going to be punished then it will be most unfortunate for the country.... All polticians will get open licneces to loot the country without any fear of punishment ..........no scam can be as blatant as this one.... how can you expect corporates to submit a draft of Rs. 1650 crores in a time window of 3:30 - 4:30 without prior knowledge and just on the notice of 4- 5 hours..... and it is evident that the companies who have submitted the draft and got licences knew all these things prior to formal announcement of Govt . This is clearly a fraud surprisingly, CBI still searching for proofs and courts are entagled in arguements .. searching and discussing issues of criminal culpability . Surprisingly, PM did'nt knew anything at the time when scam was unfolding Congress and Chidambram are clean despite having being in thick of things ??
When the court cannot decide on a point they appoint amicus curie to help them..If
it can be done in the case of Modi why not a financial expert who can read between
the lines of both CAG report and CBI report and advise the Court accordingly?
When all these alleged criminal activities were going on for a good length of time in a wing of the government, couldn't the Cabinet Secretariat and/or the Prime Minister's ofice have got wind of it at all? Are the intra-government communication channels so dangerously clogged? If the Cabinet Secretariat or the PM's office had known about these activities, they could have stopped such activities. Has the CBI ever thought about these matters?
The formula for calculation or the quantum of loss to the exchequer is
immaterial. But credence must be given to the figure arrived at by
the CAG and not to the amount worked out by CBI. However, there is no
case for leniency to all the accused as they have abused their
positions to cause deliberate loss to the exchequer and to gain
monetary benefits. Will the SC monitoring the 2G scam and the CBI
court unearth the basic truth as to the authority either in Govt or
the ruling party a) who had actually collided with Mr A Raja and b)
with whom all Mr Raja had shared the scam money? It will be proper
justice only if along with Mr Raja & company who are already in jail,
other perpetrators of the scam must also be brought to book. It is
highly unfortunate that the Attorney General and CBI are hellbent to
protect the PMO and present HM when there are serious allegations
about their complicity in the 2G allotment. CBI must not try to dilute
the scam enquiry by the figure of loss.
Difference in loss calculation by CAG and CBI is about 5 folds and comparing the price of the bribe to this is .01%. Are we having a strong case? Will these guys ever be convicted? Can we stop current DMK leaders being re-elected? Can we stop all the businesses involved in the 2g scam to go out of business Can we stop this happening again?
A big NO for all of the above.
Lets all get back to our regular routines, saving our jobs and feeding our family and making our end meets.
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