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Follow UsNEW DELHI, INDIA: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there seems to be a violation of several laws and the forging of documents in the 2G spectrum scam.
The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly made the observation after it was given a status report by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on their investigation into the scam.
The court said that in its hearing on Wednesday it would consider the plea by the senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the ED, seeking protection for investigators from unfounded media reports.
The judges said that it will also consider a plea by senior counsel Prashant Bhushan seeking day to day supervision of investigation by the CBI and the ED by two independent retired officers of impeccable integrity and reputation.
The court will also consider a communication by the chief justice of Delhi High Court suggesting the name of lower court judge O.P. Saini to preside over the court to exclusively try cases arising out of the 2G spectrum scam.
Large-scale violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act
Venugopal told the court that there was large-scale violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and forgery of documents as part of the scam.
The court's observation to protect the officials of investigating agencies from unfounded media reports came in the wake of the submission by Venugopal that news magazine was carrying out baseless and unfounded reports against them.
The court was told that the magazine said that at the instance of the finance ministry Enforcement Director A.K. Mathur asked his officer to go slow on the 2G scam investigation.
Venugopal told the court that in view of the magazine's reports the officers of the investigating agency needed the protection of the court.
The court said that it will react to the submission by Venugopal after hearing all. The "matter is very serious. Court is very serious", it said.
The ED told the court that it had already recorded statements of 26 people.
The status report submitted to the court in a sealed cover is believed to have hinted that the scam involved money transfers spread over various countries and involving foreign banks.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi earlier told the court that his clients Vodafone and Aircel could not be clubbed with other telecom operators. He said that his clients were clean and were credited with ushering in a change in telecom sector.
He said that his clients could not be compared with those who got licences in 2008 when far too many irregularities were allegedly committed.