Raja wants to examine PM, then FM & Tele minister as witnesses

New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) Jailed former Telecom Minister A
Raja on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he would get Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister P
Chidambaram and present Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal summoned
as witnesses to prove government did not incur any loss in the
2G allocation.
"Aaj main bata dena chahta hu ki main Prime Minister,
tabke Finance Minister or vartman ke Telecom Minister ko
battor gawah banaunga (Today, I want to state that I would get
the Prime Minister, the then Finance Minister and the present
Telecom Minister summoned as witnesses)," Senior Advocate
Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, told Special CBI Judge O P
Saini.
The moment it is established that there was no loss to
the state exchequer, the whole case of cheating and conspiracy
in the spectrum allocation will go, he said, claiming that the
Prime Minister and two other ministers would be able to
establish that.
He said Raja would move an application under section 91
of the CrPC for getting certain documents from the CBI which
had so far not been brought before the court.
The defence counsel also raised the issue of offloading
of equity by Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech (Tamil Nadu)
Wireless Pvt Ltd to Dubai-based Etisalat and Norway-based
Telenor respectively and maintained that there was no
criminality involved in those transactions.
"First of all there was no sale of licences, then the
offloading of equities was within the limit of 74 per cent.
Moreover, the transactions were cleared at the highest level
(the Foreign Investment Promotion Board)," he said.
Without naming any corporate house, Sushil Kumar alleged
that Raja has been made to pay the price for annoying big
players in the telecom sector.
The defence counsel sought to demolish the CBI allegation
about Raja taking bribe by contending that the agency should
explain as to why a minister would take bribe in instalments,
through cheques and that too in the form of a loan.
The counsel was referring to the CBI allegation that the
DMK-run Kalaignar TV took Rs 200 crore as bribe through
various firms of Shahid Usman Balwa, the alleged beneficiary
of the scam.
Raja counsel also alleged that so far as other companies
like Unitech and Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) were concerned,
the CBI has failed to establish "any motive or consideration"
for grant of licence.
"There is no quid pro quo vis-a-vis Unitech. The CBI has
nothing to show as to what motive or reward I had for granting
UAS licence to Unitech.
"So far as Reliance Telecom Ltd and its three officials
are concerned, no material has been brought on record as to
what motive I had. Even the CBI does not say anything against
RTL as to what it earned," the defence counsel said.
He also alleged that even if the loss theory of the CBI
is assumed to be correct, then why only two companies, Swan
Telecom and Unitech, are before this court.
He contended that the CBI which seized documents
pertaining to Loop Telecom, Spice Communications, Idea
Cellular and other firms, has not decided about its future
course of action.
"How many trials would I be facing as for last two years
the CBI has failed to decide the fate of the seized documents
pertaining to other telecom companies," he said.
Kumar was advancing additional arguments against framing
of charges on behalf of A Raja.