New Delhi: A Raja continued to whip up a storm today, claiming, "I did not seek to implicate the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister in the 2G case." He also blamed the media for "putting words in my mouth."
Mr Raja has begun defending himself in court - he is accused of engineering India's largest scam by giving away telecom licenses for low prices to companies he favoured. Mr Raja was Telecom Minister till November when he resigned over charges of corruption and the 2G scam. He was arrested in February and has been in Tihar Jail since.
Yesterday, Mr Raja named the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram in court. Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister in 2008 when the 2G scam played out. Mr Raja said that the PM and Mr Chidambaram were aware that two companies who got licenses from him - Swan and Unitech Wireless - then sold equity at huge profits to foreign partners.
Today, Mr Raja again referred to Mr Chidambaram. "The then Finance Minister, an eminent lawyer himself, cleared the sale of equity by the two licensees. He's bound to come as a witness at some point," he said.
Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom bought licenses for Rs. 1600 crore each in 2008; senior executives of both have been arrested on charges of cheating and conspiracy. Experts say that on the strength of their licenses, they were able to land huge amounts of additional equity from foreign investors. Analysts say this proves that Mr Raja grossly under-valued the licenses that he sold during his term in office.
Mr Chidambaram said yesterday that he had asked Mr Raja to clarify whether Unitech and Swan sold equity not by divestment (selling a part of their own stake) but by issuing fresh shares for their foreign investors. Mr Raja had claimed that Mr Chidambaram "had said in front of the PM that dilution of shares does not amount to sale of 2G licenses as per the corporate law." Then he dared, "Let the PM deny this."
Mr Raja said that he had followed government policy on licenses - a policy that he stressed he inherited from his predecessors in the Telecom Ministry when the NDA regime was in power. Mr Raja said that he should be rewarded for following the rules, which did not allow for the auctioning of spectrum. "All other Telecom Ministers since 1993 should also be in jail," said Mr Raja's lawyer.
Kapil Sibal, who took over as Telecom Minister from Mr Raja, said yesterday that Swan and Unitech Wireless are not under investigation for the deals they struck with foreign companies Telenor and Etisalat respectively. He said they were entitled to divest their equity for profit. The charges against both companies, he said, is of "favouritism." The CBI, which is investigating the scam, has accused the two firms of getting licenses out of turn in the first-come-first serve policy for awarding licenses. Investigators say Mr Raja bent the rules to help these companies jump to the head of the queue.
Mr Raja has begun defending himself in court - he is accused of engineering India's largest scam by giving away telecom licenses for low prices to companies he favoured. Mr Raja was Telecom Minister till November when he resigned over charges of corruption and the 2G scam. He was arrested in February and has been in Tihar Jail since.
Yesterday, Mr Raja named the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram in court. Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister in 2008 when the 2G scam played out. Mr Raja said that the PM and Mr Chidambaram were aware that two companies who got licenses from him - Swan and Unitech Wireless - then sold equity at huge profits to foreign partners.
Today, Mr Raja again referred to Mr Chidambaram. "The then Finance Minister, an eminent lawyer himself, cleared the sale of equity by the two licensees. He's bound to come as a witness at some point," he said.
Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom bought licenses for Rs. 1600 crore each in 2008; senior executives of both have been arrested on charges of cheating and conspiracy. Experts say that on the strength of their licenses, they were able to land huge amounts of additional equity from foreign investors. Analysts say this proves that Mr Raja grossly under-valued the licenses that he sold during his term in office.
Mr Chidambaram said yesterday that he had asked Mr Raja to clarify whether Unitech and Swan sold equity not by divestment (selling a part of their own stake) but by issuing fresh shares for their foreign investors. Mr Raja had claimed that Mr Chidambaram "had said in front of the PM that dilution of shares does not amount to sale of 2G licenses as per the corporate law." Then he dared, "Let the PM deny this."
Mr Raja said that he had followed government policy on licenses - a policy that he stressed he inherited from his predecessors in the Telecom Ministry when the NDA regime was in power. Mr Raja said that he should be rewarded for following the rules, which did not allow for the auctioning of spectrum. "All other Telecom Ministers since 1993 should also be in jail," said Mr Raja's lawyer.
Kapil Sibal, who took over as Telecom Minister from Mr Raja, said yesterday that Swan and Unitech Wireless are not under investigation for the deals they struck with foreign companies Telenor and Etisalat respectively. He said they were entitled to divest their equity for profit. The charges against both companies, he said, is of "favouritism." The CBI, which is investigating the scam, has accused the two firms of getting licenses out of turn in the first-come-first serve policy for awarding licenses. Investigators say Mr Raja bent the rules to help these companies jump to the head of the queue.
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