Raja pleads for making Chidambaram a witness in 2G case

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Former Indian Telecom Minister
A Raja on Tuesday pleaded before a court that the then Finance
Minister P Chidambaram be made a witness in the 2G spectrum
case and suggested he has not sought to implicate Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and the Home Minister in the matter.
The 47-year-old DMK MP, who is behind bars for nearly
six months, also sought his "forthwith release" terming his
judicial custody as an "illegal detention."
Raja's counsel Sushil Kumar made the submissions
before Special Judge O P Saini while opposing the framing of
corruption and other penal charges against him for his alleged
role in the scam on the second day of arguments.
Seeking a direction to CBI to make Chidambaram a
witness in the case, Raja said the former Finance Minister was
privy to the matter relating to dilution of equities by Swan
Telecom and Unitech Wireless to foreign firms, Etisalat and
Telenor, respectively.
"The matters relating to dilution of equities to
foreign firms by Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless were known
to the Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Chidambaram,"
Raja said.
Raja clarified that his statement yesterday about
Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram being aware of the dilution of
shares by telcom firms did not amount to making any allegation
against them.
"I am defending myself and not accusing anything
against anybody. I am not after anybody," he said.
"I did not seek to implicate the Prime Minister and
the then Finance Minister in the 2G case," Raja said while
attempting to shift the blame on media.
"They (media) cannot put words in my mouth. Ask them
to report truthfully or go out of the court room," he said.
In the USA, the court proceedings are telecast live
and the whole nation watches them to avoid such a situation,
Raja said while accusing the media of misreporting.
Raja had on Monday told the court that "the then
Finance Minister, who is now the Home Minister, had said in
front of the Prime Minister that dilution of shares does not
amount to the sale of 2G licence as per the corporate law."
"Let the Prime Minister deny this," he added.
Raja today also questioned the "presumptive loss"
worth Rs 1.76 lakh crore assessed by the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report and termed it as
"worthless", saying "its computation is not even relied upon
by the CBI."
Raja also questioned the sanction to prosecute him,
saying the same was flawed.
While defending himself against corruption charges in
2G scam, Raja had yesterday also submitted to the court that
there was nothing wrong in his decision of not auctioning the
2G spectrum and he was merely following the policies pursued
by his predecessors and the NDA government.