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| CBI to seek further custody of A Ra |
| 2G spectrum scam: CBI to seek further custody of A Raja
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| INDIA
, 8-February-2011
2:43:27 AM |
| The five-day custody of former Telecom Minister A Raja ends today. Raja was arrested on February 2 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. Also arrested were two men who worked closely with him when he was the Telecom Minister - former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, and RK Chandolia who was once Raja's personal secretary.
Sources say the CBI will tell the court today it needs to question him more to establish his link to the money trail in the 2G scam. The agency had earlier asked the court for five-day custody, but it does not seem to have made the progress it was hoping for.
In the last hearing in court on February 3, the CBI explained why it has accused the DMK leader of criminal conspiracy. The sum of the parts played by Raja and his associates, according to the CBI, equals Rs. 22,000 crore.
The CBI said that in 2008, when the government was allocating 2G spectrum for mobile phone networks, the trio twisted the rules to benefit a few companies - especially Swan and Unitech
The licenses for 2G spectrum were not auctioned, as many say they should have been. Raja chose to follow a First-Come-First-Served policy which was set by his predecessors. But the CBI's case is based on his office advancing the deadline for payments and informing only some of the players. Companies like Swan and Unitech seemed to have been tipped off to this, because despite the cut-off date being brought forward, they had their payments ready.
After winning their licenses, Swan and Unitech sold equity to foreign companies much before they began the rollout of their services. The giant profits they made seemed to underscore the point that spectrum had been sold far too cheaply by the government.
Swan paid Rs. 1,537 crore and sold 45% stake to Etisalat for a profit of Rs. 4, 730 crore.
Unitech paid Rs. 1,661 crore for its license, and sold 60% stake to Telenor for Rs. 6,200 crore.
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