The former Telecom Secretary, D.S. Mathur, on Tuesday denied the charge of the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja that he had agreed to become a witness for the Central Bureau of Investigation because he feared prosecution.
Mr. Mathur said it was wrong to suggest that he was falsely deposing against Mr. Raja or that he was instigated by members of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to testify.
Denying that he had given a false statement to the CBI under pressure, Mr. Mathur said: “When my statement was recorded by the investigating officer (IO), I was not aware that some DoT officials had already been arrested. It is wrong to suggest that I agreed to become a witness for the prosecution as I feared that if I did not do so, I may also be prosecuted.”
Questions disallowed
Special Judge O.P. Saini disallowed two questions from Mr. Raja to Mr. Mathur on the Shivraj Patil Commission report.
Mr. Mathur said he was not aware if the CBI was also probing the grant of licences during that period of his tenure when Dayanidhi Maran was the Telecom Minister.
On the allegations regarding the COAI, Mr. Mathur said: “It is wrong to suggest that as long as licences were being issued to the incumbent GSM operators — that is, members of COAI — I did not raise any objection and I started raising objections only regarding licences to new applicants.”
Mr. Mathur said earlier he had not raised any objection regarding availability of spectrum as the number of applications was limited. “I raised the issue of availability of spectrum for the new applicants only as the number of applications was very large. It is wrong to suggest that I have been throughout representing the interest of COAI and its members,” he said.
