Will Manmohan distance himself from PMO officials as he did from Raja?
New evidence shows that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, far from being “at arm’s length” from ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja’s controversial 2G decisions, had directed officials in the PMO to “examine urgently” Mr. Raja’s letters outlining his intended decisions which eventually led to the 2G scam on January 10, 2008. Investigation now reveals that senior PMO officials had supported several of Mr. Raja’s acts on file, well before the 2G scam.
These very same 2G decisions of 2008 were later, in February 2012, declared by the Supreme Court to be “wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest apart from being violative of the doctrine of equality.” Mr. Raja, his senior officers and industrialists were accused by the CBI of entering into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the exchequer of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore of revenue, as per the CAG’s estimates.
Examine urgently: PM
A set of hitherto unseen documents emerging from PMO File No 180/31/C/26/OS.ESI, Vol. IV, in the possession of The Hindu, shows that the Prime Minister, after receiving written intimations from Mr. Raja on December 26 about his plans to manipulate the first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy, directed on December 29, 2007 that the letter be “examined urgently.” Based on the PM’s directions, the then Principal Secretary, PMO, T.K.A. Nair and Secretary, PMO, Pulok Chatterji analysed Mr. Raja’s letter, discussed the implications and listed suggestions — while agreeing in writing with at least four of his actions ahead of the 2G scam.
The new set of documents is at variance with the popular belief that Dr. Singh made weak attempts to caution Mr. Raja against his multiple illegal moves, but eventually failed to restrain him. File notings demonstrate not just agreement with Mr. Raja’s written intimations — but even a discussion on these specifications, between Mr. Chatterji and “the new Secretary DoT,” Siddharth Behura — nearly a week before the 2G scam.
On the Prime Minister’s directions, a detailed analysis on 2G was placed on file along with Mr. Raja’s six-page letter to the PM and a “Top Secret” note by the then External Affairs Minister (EAM) and Chairman of the GoM on Spectrum, Pranab Mukherjee, both coincidentally dated December 26, 2007. Mr. Chatterji, then a senior official in the PMO, on December 31, 2007, wrote on page 1/N of the file, in a “Confidential/Internal” note: “As desired by Pr. Secy., I have gone through the note of the EAM and the letter of Minister C&IT and an earlier note on the telecom issues. All these documents are placed below. I have prepared a comparative chart at F/X that gives various recommendations on each issue. The last col. gives certain suggestions. Pr. Secretary may like to see this.”
The PMO’s four-page “comparative chart,” which specifically deals with “Issues of new licenses,” establishes that the PMO was in agreement with the decisions for which Mr. Raja stands accused in the CBI charge sheet of April 2, 2011, the CAG report of November 16, 2010, and the Supreme Court judgment of February 2, 2012, which cancelled 122 licences.
PMO agreed with Raja
The PMO was in agreement that startup spectrum — called “threshold” in the file — be allocated at “normal” rates. This implies no revision in entry fee, a crime for which the CBI charge sheet accuses Mr. Raja. A related note by Mr. Chatterji, after his discussion with Mr. Nair, goes on to recommend that auctions only be held beyond “threshold” (startup) level. This supports Mr. Raja’s refusal to revise the entry fee or resort to auctions in his letters to the Prime Minister of November 2 and December 26, 2007, which were written in response to the PM’s letter of November 2, 2007.
Thirdly, the file notings endorse Mr. Raja’s proposition that the FCFS policy should continue, despite acknowledging on file that over 570 applications were pending, with a caveated admission by Mr. Chatterji on page 3/N Section 14, that, “Ideally, in a situation where spectrum is scarce, it should be auctioned.”
Finally, the documents not only accept Mr. Raja’s manipulation of the FCFS definition which changed the priority from “date of application” to time of compliance with the Letter of Intent (LoI) — “payment of fee, etc” — but document this illegal change in Column 6 of the “comparative chart” as a 3-stage process, mirroring the 3-stage process outlined in Mr. Raja’s last letter to the Prime Minister of December 26, 2007. The Supreme Court, the CAG and the CBI have held this to be a violation of the then existing FCFS process.
The PMO files do not comment on the illegal advancement of cutoff date though Mr. Raja had specifically informed the Prime Minister about the advancement in his earlier letter D.O. No.20-100/2007-AS.1 of November 2, 2007. At the time of our going to press, the PMO had not responded to a detailed set of questions emailed by The Hindu.
Keywords: 2G spectrum scandal, 2G scam, JPC probe, A. Raja plea, PMO, UPA scams, political scandals, Manmohan Singh government
Truth is that Mounmohan's silence on 2G scam is not all that golden as made out to be by all
congress men. And Chidambaram is equally in it to help his friend from Tamil Nadu to make
hay while the sun(DMK) shines. UPA chief has her own reasons to get bygones be bygones.
Only the people are being made fools in this drama.
Hindu please bring back those glorious moments, when nation was awe
struck by depth of BOFORS corruption. The writing at that point of time
had a purpose and the investigative journalism was taken to it's logical
end by outing the corrupt Govt; Here a case is being built up in bits
and pieces whereby neither accountability will be fixed nor amount
looted will be brought back into system.Even when there are scams galore
none is interested in picking up one case and see to it that the corrupt
formation ceases to exists at the centre.
In any government department whenever a purchase is made through open tender or limited tender or single tender depending upon the value a tender committee is formed consisting of three officers two from two departments and one from Finance. Since the copter tender is of high value the Defense Ministry ought to have formed such a committee consisting of two Service Chiefs( One Air Force and another either Army or navy )and Secretary Ministry of Finance It is not known if such a committee was formed When ever the CBI faults the purchase it books all the Committee members because one cannot take an independent decision
The important revellation in the Hindu has been sidelined by all the popular media as it is not their Breaking News. It is unfortunate that our media seems to be another arm of politics than the people. Let the truth be known in the 2G case soon.
If the Prime Minister knew about the alleged 2G scam activities of one of his
ministers and did not restrict him from these, he has much to answer for. Whether he
does that or not, his reputation has taken a severe hit because of the above report.
Silence on his part on this matter will make matters worse.
In the western and European Democratic systems, however they are imperfect in fulfilling expectations of citizens, a repeated disclosure, as in the case of the Spectrum loot in India, of a head of a Government being aware of the manipulations, would have resulted in resignation of the concerned leader; whereas in India such disclosures, most often, are lightly and casually treated by the citizens as well as by the concerned Constitutional-state-Apparatuses. And the Days of Indian Democracy roll on crammed with such stories of manipulations, corruptions, kickbacks, and land encroachments without an initiation of a process of rethinking of enacting a people’s law that will provide remedy to remove or call back any corruption-ridden political party even before its complete 5 year term. How can any political party cleanse itself its mire of corruptions and reappear as a democratic tool face the people and elections?
All this information only adds to the vexing issue of accountability. Where does the buck stop? Raja steadfastly refused to go until corruption charges were brought against him. For argument sake, let us assume there was no corruption involved. In such a situation, if we were to take the observations of the Supreme Court on the process, then who would be accountable? Raja, plus PMO and by logical conclusion the PM himself.
Integrity in governance is not merely to do with corruption, process and outcomes should matter a great deal, Here the process was flawed and the outcome disastrous. Need we say anything more?
India has one of the cheapest call rates in the world. The supposed
"SCAM" has benefited the country more than the "lost" amount. Get over
it people!
It is worth noting that one of the persons mentioned herein,was
"deputed"to World bank and was in the USA for 3 years from about
2007.Returned and joined PMO again!
Thanks again for the quality of journalism.
Thanks for keeping the truth alive.
I commend Shalini Singh for her courage and objective journalism in the
interest of the country. In pursuit of TRUTH.
Well done Shalini.The complete picture will eventually emerge.Now PM
Manmohan is in real trouble.Will he distance himself from PMO? By the
way why did he act the way he did?One can never know.
This facts were established by Public Accounts Committe (PAC) indicting
PM and FM Chidambaram. Hindu is recycling the PAC report, voted out by
Congress. You should have given credit to PAC for exposing this two year
ago.
Its hard to believe Raja alone was party to such a scam. Surely he had
the consent of Finance Ministry and the PMO. If not this year, come end
of PM term he will be held guilty.
Kudos to THE HINDU for this research and queries being put to PMO . From what we know of our PMO from past , they will not respond . So its THE HINDU's responsibility to focus on the issue / points raised , like a laser, in everydays newspaper hereinafter until the PMO responds . Responsive journalism is not just highlighting corruption , but pusruing it till the powerful ( GOI ) respond to points raised in media .
Every body knows this fact because the machenism in our administrative set up is like this that without P M'S consent nothing will happen . Raja belongs to a smaller party whereas Congress is a big party so congress is dissociating from 2 G .
This new finding of Mr. Raja's correspondence with the PMO, specifically the points that demonstrate that his decisions were not entirely unknown to the bureaucracy within the PMO, gives credibility to the allegations that the CBI have not been impartial and meticulous in their pursuit of the facts, and it certainly fortifies his demand for a hearing by the JPC.
As much as it appears that in order to get to the truth of the matter, Mr. Raja must be heard, it also appears that the JPC knew more than it would acknowledge of having been aware. If the allegations of a superficial investigation and demand for a full hearing sow the seeds of suspicion of a larger conspiracy, then the JPC's continued reluctance to grant Mr. Raja an audience only adds rich nourishment to it.
This scam could be much wider and deeper than estimated.
and mr. manmohan says "money doesn't grow on trees".......
when ministers resign, the media and the people considers them as wuss!
ak antony is known to offer resignation as soon as there is any
allegation against him. but people think he is a "weak" minister.
we get what we deserve!
Generally It could be possible to have agreement of higher authorities for any proposal as sometimes the go ahead is given in good faith and in this case it might have been the case or not. But what is most significant is to establish as to who all are guilty in the entire alleged scam. Also the people of the entire nation want to know the following:
1. Subsequent to this what had happened? Was there a scam or not?
2. How much money did the government lose?
3. was there any bribery and who benefitted what?
4. Will all the beneficiaries be booked as per the law and will it be possible to recover the money lost to the govt. treasury?
At the end of the day, it should not happen that the whole thing is driven towards finding out that all are party to the decision process rather than establishing out the truth about the money lost by the government and the beneficiaries of the same.
There are two main reasons because of which corruption breeds. One is
that if a person is greedy (man of low integrity), he will surely
bring corruption in his dealings. This (corruption) is intentional.
Second one emerges because of incompetence. If a person is not
competent enough to handle a job (reasons may be anything like work
overload, lack of necessary expertise or skills), he'll not be able to
oversee (rather analyze) work done by his subordinates, juniors or
colleagues etc. These people may bring corruption in the system.
Aforementioned types of corruption are pertinent here also. Corruption
in 2G case is mammoth. According to me, this corruption is combination
of both types intentional and unintentional (out of ignorance and
incompetency).
It is once again a great work by Hindu to get possession of such information and enlighten public.
It is becoming more and more clear that, it's not a scam at all.
Contrary to the popular belief, Raja actually took decisions after consultations with every one
concerned.
The Supreme Court even did not give Raja a chance to be heared before it took a decision.
Gone are those golden days where ministers used to resign taking moral
responsibility. Lal Bahadur Shastri has set an example in this regard.
But in present days even though ministers are directly responsible they
are not accepting responsibility for those acts, forget about moral
responsibility. Lot of evidence emerging against PM also. He should also
be examined.
Kudos to Ms. Shalini Singh and The Hindu for such a well-researched
article. This is truly good journalism. Dr. Singh's greatest asset so
far has been his unquestionable integrity. He may have been accused of
non-performance or his inability to rein in ambitious cabinet colleagues
and coalition partners. But most commentators and even some opposition
leaders believed that he was not personally culpable. Now, increasingly,
that seems to be just a facade that is fast crumbling. That would be
very unfortunate indeed!
This is what is called investigative journalism.
I commend The Hindu and Shalini Singh for this fearless & forthright exposure of the dirty
games being played by the MMS triumvirate. Now we know as to why the JPC is shivering in
its pants and refusing to accept the demand of Raja that he be allowed to give his deposition
in person ? I only hope that , Raja should pursue this case to its logical conclusion and just
Vindication of not only his reputation but that of his Party too.
Truth is every one was hand in glove with this massive scam, but with help of diversionary
and blame game and denial tactics they have been able to push this out of common man's
memory.
If the premis on which the PM should be held responsible is that he did not auction
the airwaves, it's been seen over the years after the scam that neither does auction
provide one with a maximization of revenue nor is it 100% transparent. It all depends
on how the auction is held. I think the assertion that since the auction was not
conducted in the place of a first come first serve basis (FCFS), we should blame the
PM and the FM and everybody else is not good at all.
However, what's critical is, in the process of manipulating the FCFS process, was
there collusion is a critical piece of information and is yet to be proven. It's quiet
often the practice that you write letters to cover yourself to everyone. I still would
think the onus on proving that there was collusion should lie on Mr. Raja and he
should be prosecuted for criminal conspiracy and negligence, and if possible for
illegally acquiring wealth. Request the Hindu to focus rather than spread the muck;
the rest will follow.
So the "Holy Cow" sitting at the helm of UPA is equally responsible for
all the wrong doings not alone the silent spectator.
Is this cornering happening because Raja is a dalit? I'm very much
suspicious since I have heard similar stories where dalits(and only
dalits) had been ousted from power.
From the start, this 2G "Scam" was an invention of the media for the
sheer purpose of sensationalism!
1. CAG was negligent for creating Rs. 1.76 lakh crores "presumptive"
or "notional loss" which is nothing but a phantom or mythical loss.
Auditors and courts must deal only with REAL loss.
2. PM and the current IT Minister have made categorical statements
that there was no REAL loss incurred in the 2 G sale of spectrum.
3. Supreme Court was negligent on interfering with the Policy Decision
of the duly elected Govt: Scarce assets need not be auctioned, if that
would hurt the Public Good. For example, drinking water is a rare but
very essential commodity in India. Does this mean the Govt must
auction this scarce asset? Very foolish to throw out 122 licenses that
A. Raja issued.
4. Newspapers like The Hindu are negligent in not analyzing what
"notional loss" means. Should we care?
5. PM was negligent in not forcefully supporting A. Raja, who has
informed him of ALL decisions he made.
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