Absolving himself of any guilt, the former Telecom Secretary and key accused in the 2G scam, Siddharth Behura, shifted the blame for the 2G mess on ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja and the Prime Minister’s Office when questioned by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday.
Mr. Behura, who had earlier also served under Mr. Raja, joined the DoT on January 1, 2008. Within 10 days, on January 10, 2008, after Mr. Behura’s approval on file, Mr. Raja illegally granted 122 Letters of Intent (LoIs) with linked 2G spectrum at 2001 rates which, the CAG’s estimates say, caused a revenue loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore.
Three violations
CPI leader and JPC member Gurudas Dasgupta questioned how three specific violations in the award of LoIs took place: the Transaction of Business Rules 1961 mandating agreement between any ministry with the Finance Ministry in matters of large expenditures or revenues, the Cabinet decision of 2003 mandating concurrence between the Telecom and Finance Ministries on spectrum pricing and Finance Secretary D. Subbarao’s November 22, 2008 letter, explicitly seeking a stay on any grant of LoIs or spectrum.
Mr. Behura claimed that everything had already been decided by the time he took over. He said Principal Secretary in the PMO Pulok Chatterji, who was a senior PMO official at that time, had in a meeting assured him that all issues relating to 2G had already been settled. Mr Behura also admitted to a difference of opinion with Mr. Raja on the issue of inter-se priority of applicants based on the date of applications.
As Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Chatterji recently replaced T.K.A. Nair, who was the Principal Secretary during the 2G scam. It is a matter of record that Mr. Chatterji knew about Mr. Raja’s plans and in a note to Mr. Nair, less than a week before the infamous January 10, 2008 press release, he stated, “new operators may be allotted spectrum only up to the threshold level on payment of normal fees.”
This effectively sealed the fate of spectrum prices in 2008 being linked to the Rs.1,658-crore price discovered in 2001.
Subsequent file notings in January 2008 which say: “PM wants this informally shared with DoT. Does not want a formal communication and wants the PMO to be at arm’s length,” have been a further source of embarrassment for the PMO.
Keywords: 2G spectrum scam, JPC on 2G, Siddarth Behura, 2G auction, CAG audit report, A. Raja
The story reminds me of Dean Jonathan Swift's poem:
"Big bugs have little bugs
Upon their backs to bite them.
Little bugs have littler bugs.
And so, ad infinitum."
Governance of our country seems to be similar, except that the predator bugs often gang up and bite humans.
It's a blame game, which now Behura has started. This type of game others in the case, too, can play. It's for the courts to decide who is to blame really; if at all there was any wrong doing in the 2G allocations. The point is we cannot jump to conclusions on the basis of what Behura has said. Or, for that matter, what any one else has to say. Let's be patient and see how investigations play out and what the courts judge. We should not pre-judge the outcome.
Sir, Most of the bureaucrats are corrupted and greedy. They can cheat
the Nation and blame their Ministers. Ministers are also not pure and
perfect. Making money is the only intention of most of the leaders. It
is not easy to erase the corruption. The best remedy is a strong fact
finding machine and JPC is not perfect. The JPC members are servants
of the Party leaders and ministers. How PC Chacko can call PM for
interrogation? So a well clean Supreme Court Justice should be the
Chairperson of the JPC, though he is not a Parliament member. Such
Judges should get high remuneration and best security throughout their
life. Nation have to spend a few crores to protect billions. It is not
impossible to find out the corruption. If Raja or Kanimozhi earned
something beyond their capacity, they can't hide the wealth. Anyone
who found guilty should get severe punishment. That should include
confiscation of entire wealth of their family and life imprisonment.
Nice to see Mr Raja has come back.After doing so much big scam.If Small police case is there in your name then in government office you cannot get a job.After doing murder any person will not come outside of jail.How these people able to come outside.This is India system.
And,the person mentioned by Shri Behura was "deputed", to the World
Bank,[and was in the USA] from 2008 to the second half of 2011.This
raises some serious questions,as regards the PM's involvement and
knowledge about the 2 G spectrum scam.But M M Singh denied any knowledge
repeatedly,till Maran's letter, proving that M M Singh had known about
this scam from 2006,put paid to his[M M Singh's] claims.
In many of the newspaper reports we find a naivete which is stunning.
We know only one thing,that the Government does not function like a
tightly held public limited company.Knowledge does not mean
acceptance.
In many cases we see that A minister for instance informs a colleague
about a decision.The Second person is not party to that.He cannot do
anything but listen carefully and hope that the first person knows
the consequences.He assumes he has insurance and cover when such
decisions are made not that the M is really foolhardy and
unintelligent and trying to take everyone for a ride and finally
he says it is done in the interests of all concerned.QED.The
aftermath will fill all the newspapers.Very interesting!
Time space should not be too large. System should adopt sharp method in
settling or concluding any issue. This kind of blame game is ugly.
What more evidence is required to infer that PMO was fully aware of the intentions of the scamsters and wanted to pretend ignorance, as clearly available as per the last para of the author which says PMO's office was scared of formal communication to this effect. It is a pity that PM and then FM are left alone while only Raaja and others are facing the enquiry.
Will Shalini Singh find out for the Hindu readers whether the CBI ever questioned Ms.Nair
and Chatterjee on the 2G scam?
If the cut-off date had been pushed out... the same people who are
complaining now would have drawn a cartoon mocking Mr. Raja of moving at
a turtle's pace.
First come first serve policy itself is wrong that too when a last date is fixed. Every year cost of living is increasing and it is not
known how the price fixed in 2001 or so will be applied in 2007 also.
Definitely there is motive behind the advancement of the last date
without due publicity and the law must take its own course without
differentiating between common man and the honourable minister however
great may be. I still wonder how it was able to do by a honourable
minister without the knowledge of Finance Ministry and PMO.
Raja’s argument that he followed the guidelines set in earlier is
humbug. NDA never set in any unusual deadline like Behura said. Nobody
can get crores of rupees worth demand drafts just in few hours before
the auction. This is a well-orchestrated plan by A Raja and his men.
People are not so synthetic to fool themselves
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