PM was aware of 2G allocations: Kanimozhi

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Prime Minister and then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram were fully aware of the 2G licence allocations and had decided with the now jailed Telecom Minister A. Raja not to auction these, DMK MP Kanimozhi, who has been named co-conspirator in the scam, Tuesday told a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here.

Senior counsel Sushil Kumar, appearing for Kanimozhi, told special Judge O.P. Saini that they were presenting the minutes of a meeting in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram and Raja had decided that licences for 2G spectrum were not to be auctioned.

"The (three) are good enough as witnesses to prove that there was no loss," counsel said. "They are on record in parliament that the government did not incur any loss."

Pleading that the case against Kanimozhi be discharged, the defending counsel said: "The CBI case is based on the premise that the accused caused huge loss to the state exchequer by not auctioning licences for the 2G spectrum. The moment the loss factor goes out, how can the investigative agency impose charges of cheating on my client?"

Sushil Kumar also trashed the computation of the loss by the CBI and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), claiming these to be "just notional losses", something that could not be the basis for prosecution.

"The CAG report (putting the losses at Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer) was laid before the Lok Sabha Nov 16, 2010," Sushil Kumar argued. "It had not been adopted by the house. It is still in limbo as the house is yet to adopt the report." In the absence of parliamentary acceptance, the report lacked evidence value, he said.

"Both the charge sheets of the CBI show losses of Rs.22,000 crore and Rs.30,000 crore. I cannot understand the actual loss caused by my client," Sushil Kumar told the court.

"No offence is committed as far as 2G is concerned, as the rate of application money was already fixed at Rs.1,600," counsel said. He added that there was no question of conspiracy when this rate was already fixed.

The first set of charge sheets, filed in the case April 2, had named Raja, the now jailed telecom minister, eight others and the three telecom companies as co-conspirators.

The supplementary charge sheets, filed April 25, named Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV chief Sharad Kumar, Cineyug Films founder Karim Morani and two others as the accused.