Singh can also be held guilty: Raja

A Raja  New Delhi, July 26: A. Raja today urged court to make P. Chidambaram a witness in the 2G case, claiming the then finance minister had been aware of equity allocation by two telecom companies to foreign investors. “Chidambaram should be made a witness in the case,” Sushil Kumar, Raja’s counsel, told special court judge .P. Saini, explaining that Chidambaram had told the Prime Minister in a meeting that equity sales by Swan and Unitech to foreign companies were legitimate. The former telecom minister then dragged in Manmohan Singh for not constituting a group of ministers to examine the 2G issue but not before telling the court that he did not “seek to implicate” either the Prime Minister or Chidambaram. “The Prime Minister is superior to me and he could have constituted a GoM if there was any discrepancy. What was he doing? Just because he ignored it no GoM was formed. It was not dereliction of duty but it was his judgement that a GoM was not required. So by that standard the PM is also in the conspiracy,” Kumar said. “I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister about the spectrum licence. How am I involved if he did not feel the need to constitute a GoM? The issuance of the licence was not my decision but was a collective decision. When the cabinet approved foreign investment, which law did I violate?” Raja’s counsel asked. Soon after proceedings began today at 10am, Kumar clarified that his client had not shifted the blame on Singh and Chidambaram yesterday contrary to reports in the media. “My statement yesterday about Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram being aware of the dilution of shares by telecom companies did not amount to making any allegation against them or seeking to implicate them. I am defending myself and not accusing anybody. I am not after anybody,” Kumar said as Raja, who stood next to him, vigorously nodded his head. He accused the media for distorting his statements. “They cannot put words in my mouth or my client’s mouth. This misreporting is causing serious prejudice. Ask them to report truthfully or go out of the court room,” he told the judge, adding that court proceedings were telecast live in the US to avoid such situations. Yesterday, Raja had told the court that all decisions on the award of spectrum licences were taken by the cabinet and both Singh and Chidambaram had been in the know. “Chidambaram had told the Prime Minister that the issue of sale of equity by spectrum licensees to attract FDI did not amount to sale of licence as per corporate law. Let the PM deny it,” Kumar said. For the first time after lunch, Raja argued his case for five minutes after taking permission from his counsel. He denied forging a press release issued by the telecom department in the 2G case. “It was duly approved by then solicitor-general G.E. Vahanvati. Even before becoming a prosecution witness, he had been defending the press release. He is now lying.” He said he had pursued the policy that was implemented by Arun Shourie, the NDA’s telecom minister in 2003. “In my case, the CBI is accusing me of criminal conspiracy. But Shourie did the same thing and they did not take any action against him.” Later, raising a question mark on the presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore cited by the comptroller and auditor general, Raja’s counsel said: “He may be a very good accountant but I will say he is a legally illiterate person. Even the CBI has not relied on his report as they know it is worthless.” He termed Raja’s judicial custody as “illegal” and said the court should release him forthwith as there was no prima-facie case against him. Raja today completed his arguments in the 2G case. He The other 13 accused, including DMK MP Kanimozhi, and telecom bosses will now argue their case. The process of framing charges against the accused will start after completion of the arguments and counter arguments.will be questioned by the income tax department tomorrow.