2G case:Ex-Telecom Secretary extended benefits to Swan Telecom

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) Former Telecom Secretary
Siddharth Behura, who is in jail in connection with the 2G
scam, "doctored" the seniority list of applicants to extend
"undue" benefits to Swan Telecom in the spectrum allocation,
India's premier investigating agency CBI told the Delhi High
Court Thursday.
"The role and complicity of Behura in the case is very
clear as he legitimized the application of ineligible firm
Swan Telecom Private Ltd and compromised with the seniority
list of the applicants to extend undue benefits to it," senior
advocate and special prosecutor U U Lalit told Justice Ajit
Bharihoke.
Opposing the bail application of Behura, Lalit said
"there was only one vacant slot (for grant of spectrum) for
lucrative Delhi circle and Swan could not have got license if
the accused had acted fairly."
The Swan Telecom, placed at fifth position in the
seniority list, could not have walked away with the spectrum
for Delhi circle as Spice and Tata were ahead of it, he said.
Because of the "omission and commission" of the
accused, Swan Telecom promoted by co-accused Shahid Balwa got
away with the spectrum, he said.
Due to the "ill-conceived" design in implementing the
first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy, a desperate race was
created at the office of the DoT here where physical fitness
of the representatives of the firms decided the allocation of
scarce spectrum, he said.
"The undue haste shown in awarding the UAS(Unified
Access Service) licenses to Swan Telecom and deliberate
deletion of the last sentence in the draft press release,
after being approved by the then Solicitor General, amply
indicate the role of Behura in the case," he said.

Meanwhile, Justice Bharihoke asked Central Bureau of
Investigation(CBI) to provide him a copy of the letter of
intent (LoI) issued to Swan Telecom and other documents, if
any, on government policy on spectrum allocation for
ascertaining alleged acts of the accused.
The arguments on the bail plea of Behura remained
inconclusive and would continue on July 21.
Earlier, senior advocate Aman Lekhi, appearing for
Behura, said that the "so called" gigantic loss to the state
in spectrum allocation was caused due to the government policy
and not because of the accused.
A civil servant has no other distinct identity
separate from the government of the day whose policies can be
tested in Parliament, Lekhi had said, adding Behura had no
role in decisions regarding pricing of spectrum, FCFS policy
and advancing of cut-off date for submission of applications.
CBI, in its chargesheet, alleged that Raja conspired
with others and preponed the cut-off date to September 25,
2007 from October 1, 2007 to ensure better prospects for his
favoured companies.
The DoT officials tried to prevent Raja from
proceeding ahead with "his design to delete a clause, which
would have resulted in reshuffling of the priority from the
date of application to time of submission of compliance of
LoI, it said.
Besides Behura, 13 persons including Dravida Munnettra
Kazhagam (DMK) Member of Parliament (MP) Kanimozhi have been
arrested so far in the case.
Three companies, Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless (Tamil
Nadu) Ltd and Reliance Telecom Ltd have also been named as
accused in the case.