By IANS,
New Delhi : After DMK MP Kanimozhi, jailed former communications minister A. Raja Wednesday informed a Delhi court that he would call Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as witness in the 2G spectrum allocation case. He even addressed the court personally and claimed innocence.
Raja, at present lodged in the Tihar Jail along with other accused in the case, told a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court that apart from the prime minister he would seek the presence of the then finance minister P. Chidambaram and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal in the witness box.
The former minister addressed the judge for about 15 minutes and said: “I want to challenge the CBI, can they even show a single page of evidence that I took decision individually without consulting prime minister and any of his officials?”
“I want to go through the litmus test, just to prove my honesty,” said Raja.
He said he would call the prime minister and the other two witnesses to prove that the government did not incur any loss in the 2G spectrum allocation.
Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, informed CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini that he may get permission under section 311 (power to summon material witness) of the Criminal Procedure Code to issue summons to the prime minister, the then finance Minister and the present communications minister as witnesses.
“The moment it is established that there was no loss to the state exchequer, the whole case of cheating and conspiracy in the spectrum allocation will go,” said Sushil Kumar.
He said that the prime minister and the two others were the correct people to establish the real facts.
“My client’s (Raja) fault is that he allegedly ignored the advice from other ministers to auction spectrum, which would have brought in much more money for the government. Instead, he chose to allocate licences at rates determined in 2001,” defence counsel said.
Raja earlier said that the prime minister and the then finance minister were aware that he had decided not to auction spectrum. “They had the option of over-ruling me,” Raja said at an earlier hearing.
Sibal, who took over as communications minister after Raja resigned, declared last year that there were no losses caused to the government in the spectrum allocation.
He said Raja would move an application for getting some documents from the CBI which had not been brought before the court.
“The CBI have more than 45,000 documents in their custody, which they have not produced before the court till date,” said Sushil Kumar.
Seeking discharge in the 2G scam, Raja said he was made to pay a price for annoying the big players in the telecom sector.
“Raja’s case is nothing but witch hunting by the older players, who invested money,” said Sushil Kumar.
Defence counsel sought to demolish the CBI allegation that Raja took bribe and said that the agency should explain as to why a minister would take bribe in instalments, through cheques and that too in the form of a loan.
“The person who takes bribe will never leave any evidence behind…I do not understand, if it is a case of bribe,” said Sushil Kumar.
Raja said that the Prime Minister’s Office and officials of the communications ministry had knowledge of the policy decision taken by him.
He contended that the CBI seized documents pertaining to Loop Telecom, Spice Communications, Idea Cellular and other firms but has not decided about its future course of action regarding those companies.
“How many trials would I be facing as for the last two years the CBI has failed to decide the fate of the seized documents pertaining to other telecom companies,” Raja said.
Talking about spectrum pricing, Sushil Kumar said: “None of the law officers spoke on pricing of the spectrum before giving their approval. Pricing was never under question before any law officer of India.”
Raja, who was allowed by the court to speak personally, said that none of his family members has kept money in foreign account. The CBI allegation against his family members was baseless.
“What do CBI think about me, that I am enjoying my life behind the bars? I am also suffering from stigma, but waiting for the right time to speak out,” he said.