By IANS,
New Delhi : Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Tuesday quizzed the top brass of Reliance Telecom, Telenor, S-Tel and Etisalat on matters related to the allotment of telecom spectrum by former communications minister A. Raja.
Briefing reporters after the day-long meetings, PAC chairman, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Murli Manohar Joshi, said all those quizzed today were candid in their responses, but asked not to be queried on matters that were sub-judice.
The reference was to the charges framed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Those quizzed included Reliance Telecom’s Anil Ambani, Etisalat’s Atul Jhamb, Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, S-Tel’s V. Srinivasan and Telenor’s Charles Woodworth.
“Ambani spoke candidly. Regarding a few matters, he also resorted to the plea that the matter was either sub-judice or that he needed to refer to some relevant documents. He assured us the documents would be sent to the committee in a day or two,” Joshi said.
“Both Goenka and Ambani said as there was a CBI chargesheet, the matter was sub-judice. They prayed that the committee should not ask questions related to that as it could weaken their case in the court of law,” Joshi added.
Monday saw the panel question Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, each for some three hours. Ambani’s meeting, Joshi said, lasted about an hour.
According to sources, the members raised six sets of issues with Ambani pertaining to policy matters, first-come-first-served basis for awarding spectrum, excess spectrum with service providers and second and third generation (2G and 3G) telecom services.
The sources said Ambani was candid and cooperative in his replies and responded to all queries raised by the members. On matters pertaining to charges by the CBI, he said the issue was sub-judice.
“He had all the facts and figures on his fingertips,” said a source, adding the meeting, scheduled around noon, had started an hour late.
“We told those present today that as per the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India), some of the companies should not have got the spectrum and licences. They gave their replies from their side. We will investigate the matter,” Joshi said.
“We also observed that most companies came into existence one day and within a few days, the capital was enhanced. The articles of association hastily added the telecom business — not in a proper manner. We are investigating.”
The committee is examining a CAG report which said the allocation of spectrum was given at below market prices and in a questionable manner during Raja’s tenure and this had caused huge losses to the government.
According to Telenor’s Woodworth, the committee asked “all sorts of questions” and that he gave detailed explanations to all of them. “We presented them with the truth. We were asked why we invested in India. We said we have nothing to hide. We are here to stay.”
Raja was forced to step down as telecom minister last November and was later arrested. The alleged scam is being investigated by multiple probe agencies, including the CBI and a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).
The PAC had earlier queried Telecom Secretary R. Chandrashekhar, his predecessors D.S. Mathur and Siddhartha Behura, former member-finance in Telecom Commission Manju Madhavan and former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Pradip Baijal.
It also interacted with Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao, who was finance secretary when the scarce spectrum for second generation (2G) telecom services was allotted to service providers.