The former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) official, R.P. Singh, who has created a storm with his statements on the 2G spectrum allocation audit, on Saturday claimed that his superiors gave him a “written order” following which he signed on the final report giving a presumptive loss figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore.
Mr. Singh, who headed the CAG team that audited the 2G spectrum allocation, maintained that he had never put the particular figure in his draft report.
“They [senior CAG officials] told me that this is the final report and asked me to sign on it. So I followed the instruction,” Mr. Singh told PTI.
He claimed “there was no opportunity to show one’s difference of opinion.”
“I prepared the report. Why I removed those figures I explained and thereafter submitted it to the higher authorities. This is their report and their responsibility. They again put those loss figures. What can I do in this?”
Mr. Singh had in his draft report given a figure of Rs. 2,645 crore as loss on account of 2G spectrum sale in 2008.
Asked why he decided to speak now on the issue, Mr. Singh said: “2G auction has just closed and price has been found through market discovery and the figure that has been found is very less. The CAG report had cited much higher loss.
“Some reporters had asked about low price discovery. I said whatever figure is in the report that is presumptive loss and this is the actual price discovery.”
He said the CAG had already said that the presumptive loss figure was debatable, disputable and questionable and “this is not actual loss.”
“This is actual discovery through market forces. So obviously there is a difference and this is what I told journalists,” Mr. Singh said.
Political storm
The CAG report tabled in Parliament in 2010 had created a political storm. The controversy over spectrum allocation also led to cancellation to 122 licences by the Supreme Court in February this year.
Saying that Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi never asked him any question, Mr. Singh said, “Nobody asked me any question on the presumptive loss thing.”
