No criminal culpability of Chidambaram in 2G case: CBI

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) In the midst of a raging
controversy over a Finance ministry note to the Prime
Minister's Office, investigation agency CBI on Thursday said
it had examined the role of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
in connection with the 2G scam and there was no criminal
culpability on his part during his tenure as Finance
Minister.
The agency distanced itself from the controversy after
the "secret note" of Finance Ministry was obtained through
an RTI and also submitted before the Supreme Court which
stated that the Telecom ministry could have gone in for
auction of 2G spectrum licenses if Chidambaram had insisted on
it during his tenure as Finance Minister.
Highly-placed CBI sources said that all these documents
were examined and Finance Ministry had been opposing the
policy of Department of Telecom of first-come-first serve.
"....in view of the financial implications, the Ministry
of Finance should have been consulted in the matter before you
(DoT) had finalised the decision. I request you to kindly
review the matter and revert to us as early as possible with
responses to the above issue. Meanwhile, all further action to
implement the above licences may please be stayed," the then
Finance Secretary D Subbarao had said in his letter to then
Telecom Secretary D S Mathur dated November 22, 2007.
The sources said that there was no indication from the
papers examined by the CBI that Chidambaram was in knowledge
of the alleged criminal conspiracy being hatched by the then
Telecom Minister A Raja.
They said as per records available, a Group of Ministers
was to meet on January 15, 2008 but Raja, in pursuance of his
alleged conspiracy, issued the Letter of Intent on January 10
itself setting in motion the issuance of 2G licenses embedded
with 4.4 Mhz spectrum.