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After Maran, who's next in line?

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Dayanidhi Maran is out. Now the heat is turning towards NDA. Under the cloud of one of the giant-sized scams, the next to fall would be the former telecom ministers, irrespective of their political affiliation. The scam imbroglio is apparently getting into a political fiasco.

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Sources in the CBI said that the agency has already done most of its 'home work'. Reportedly, Arun Shourie has sent a four-page signed statement to the probe agency on July 1. From Maran to Paswan, the probe agency is expected not to leave any stone unturned.

CBI has apparently completed a preliminary enquiry on the alleged role of former telecom ministers who were in office between 2001 and 2007. These ministers include Dayanidhi Maran, Arun Shourie, (late) Pramod Mahajan and Ram Vilas Paswan.

Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Shivraj Patil, who submitted a report on the 2G scam in January this year, had provided some details as to how the telecom rules were manipulated during the NDA tenure. However, the investigating agency didn't find anything against Shourie till now while the role of Mahajan, who is no more, is under scanner.

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In the backdrop of the finding of Justice Patil, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has said that the nation suffered a loss of more than Rs 43,500 crore due to a change in the national telecom policy (NTP) in 1999, during the NDA regime.

Ram Vilas Paswan, who handled the telecom portfolio during 1999-2001, is said to have replaced the fixed license fee model with a revenue sharing agreement. Paswan is alleged to be involved in Rs 1,300 crore scam by giving out licenses to GSM and CDMA players. During his tenure, Reliance Infocomm offered full nationwide mobility. However, there is no concrete evidence to point finger towards him, too.

The responsibility of implementation of NTP 1999 was enshrined on Pramod Mahajan who was telecom minister during 2001-2003. It is alleged that telcos got favors and hence there was a phenomenal subscribers' growth during that period.

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Arun Shourie, who was the telecom minister from 2003 to 2004, approved the controversial united access service licenses (UASL) on a first-come-first-served basis. However, Shourie put the blame on Paswan's policy and TRAI recommendations for implementing the same.

During Maran's tenure, from 2004 to 2007, the share of foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom services was raised from 49 per cent to 74 per cent. He allocated more than 70 GSM spectrum licenses and facilitated impressive cuts in call rates. Besides Aircel part, initial probe indicates that 2G spectrum money to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore was traded during his tenure.

As the probe progresses, it has apparently become a cause of worry for many. From Essar's Ruias to Shyam Telelinks and HFCL Infotel, all the major telecom honchos are getting sleepless nights.

CBI will be grilling a banker — Standard Chartered, on July 13, for financing Unitech-Telenor consortium. On asking whether the agency will call Shourie and Paswan as the horizon widens, the CBI declined to comment. It is for sure that many top politicians will feel the 2G heat in the days to come. How it will be reflected in the cabinet reshuffle happening this week is also something that one has to wait and watch.

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