The 2G spectrum scam in India involved the issue of 1232 licenses by the ruling Congress-led UPA alliance of the spectrum to 85 companies including many new telecom companies with little or no experience in the telecom sector at 2G price set in the year 2001.The scam involved allegations regarding CHEAP TELECOM LICENSES (CAG REPORT)
1.The under pricing of the 2G spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications which resulted in a heavy loss to the the funds of a government or the funds of the country,Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs 1.76 lakh crore and
2.The illegal manipulation of the spectrum allocation process to favour select companies
3. Fee for spectrum licenses in 2008 given at 2001 prices
4. Mobile subscriber base had shot up to 350 million in 2008 from 4 million in 2001
NO PROCEDURES FOLLOWED
1.Rules changed after the game had begun
2.Cut-off date for applications advanced by a week
3.Licenses issued on a first-come-first-served basis
4.No proper auction process followed, no bids invited
5.Raja ignored advice of TRAI, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry
6.TRAI had recommended auctioning of spectrum at market rates
RAJA :BUY LICENCE CHEAP MAKE ME RICH
1.Unitech, Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior telecom experience
2.Swan Telecom given license even though it did not meet eligibility criteria
3.Swan got license for Rs 1537 crore, sold 45% stake to Etisalat for Rs 4200 crore
4.Unitech Wireless got license for Rs 1661 crore, sold 60% stake for Rs 6200 crore
5.All nine companies paid DoT only Rs 10,772 crore for 2G licences
RAJA WAS HELPED BY THE FOLLOWING -:
1.DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and MP Kanimozhi who has been named by the CBI as a co- conspirator with A Raja .Now eating and sleeping in jail
2.Shahid Balwa, the promoter of Swan Telecom, who the CBI believes had a central role in the 2G spectrum scam. He has been accused of colluding with former Telecom Minister A Raja by allegedly channelising kickbacks Raja got from the spectrum sale into the real estate
3.Unitech chief Sanjay Chandra and DB Realty founder Vinod Goenka who have been chargesheeted for cheating and conspiracy
4.Three senior executives of Anil Ambani controlled ADAG, Gautam Doshi, Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara. All these are currently lodged in Tihar Jail
5.Former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura, who allegedly shut counters to physically block other telecom companies, faces the same charges as Raja. And so does Raja's Personal Secretary RK Chandolia
CASE FILLED BY SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
In November 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote the first of five letters to PM Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A.RAJA in regards to the2G spectrum scam. However, Singh took no action, leading Swamy to file a case on his own in the Supreme court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on the matter.
Swamy said that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters Anushka and Nadia have received sixty percent of the kickbacks in the 2G spectrum scam, amounting to Rs.18,000 crores each.On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page long petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Gandhi. In the petition, he claimed to have strong evidence of corrupt acts committed by Gandhi as early as 1972; he also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship. At a lecture on corruption given on 29 May 2011, he again repeated his allegation against Sonia Gandhi, saying she has Rs.1 lakh crore stashed abroad.
Appearing for Raja, senior advocate Shushil Kumar told special CBI judge OP Saini that CBI should have recorded Chidambaram's statement as he was privy to all decisions relating to the 2G spectrum allocation.
At the last hearing, Raja's counsel had told the court that Chidambaram as finance minister had cleared Etisalat buying stake in Swan Telecom and Telenor buying stake in Unitech Wireless, in the presence of the Prime Minister. According to Raja's counsel, Chidambaram told the Prime Minister that the "dilution of shares" by the now accused licensees to attract FDI was not illegal and did not amount to "sale of licence".
A Raja's counsel said P Chidambaram should be asked whether he gave advice on the issue of dilution of shares in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Call Chidambaram here (in the court) and ask him whether this meeting took place or not in the presence of the Prime Minister and you (Chidambaram) gave this advice or not. Call him and confront him with the minutes of the meeting," he said. Regarding the alleged loss incurred by the exchequer, he said none less than the PM has said on the floor of Parliament that there is no loss.
CBI in its chargesheet has said that accused Shahid Balwa's Swan Telecom and Sanjay Chandra's Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) off-loaded their shares to Dubai-based Etisalat and Norway-based Telenor, respectively. Raja's counsel submitted that the court should use its power under Section 311 CrPC to summon and examine Chidambaram as a witness. "In the meeting, the then finance minister clarified (the issue of) dilution of shares. Chidambaram is party to it and I am not calling him as an accused. CBI should have recorded his statement earlier," the counsel said.
"Call Mr Chidambaram under Section 311 of CRPC and ask whether this meeting took place," the defence counsel said, adding that CBI's case is based on two pillars that Raja must have auctioned the spectrum and that he showed favour to two companies who, in turn, earned "windfall" profit by diluting their shares. According to Raja's counsel, the assumption was wrong as it was a policy decision approved by the home minister and even the prime minister.
The government leadership refused to respond to submissions made by Raja's counsel in the court. "We will not like to respond to arguments in the court. When a judge takes a decision, we will formulate our response," said Law Minister Salman Khurshid.
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