All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to move Union Minister and senior DMK leader A Raja out of the Telecom Ministry to enable an impartial enquiry by the CBI into the multi-crore scam in the allotment of second generation services licences to mobile telephone operators on a first-come-first-served basis.
In an open letter to Dr Singh, Ms Jayalalitha has accused Mr Raja of having caused a huge loss to the Government by opting for licence allotment on a first-come-first-served basis despire "reservations expressed by the Union Law Ministry.
Citing media reports, she said the Prime Minister himself was unhappy about the process and had advised caution and transparency. Further, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had suggested that the policy be abandoned and the more appropriate system of auctions adopted. Yet Mr Raja went ahead with a first-come-first-served sale of spectrum licenses.
Since he did so overruling objections from several quarters it is apparent that he had a vested interest in ensuring that a free and fair bidding procedure was not followed," the AIADMK supremo said in a statement here.
She said: "The Central vigilance commission had smelt a rat and referred the issue for investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. My information is that substantial incriminating documents have been unearthed when CBI conducted raids in the offices of the Telecom ministry.
She claimed that had the Telecom Ministry gone in for an international bidding for the 2 G spectrum, the players who were allocated the spectrum, “would have paid the same astronomical amounts to the Government of India.” By opting for a faulty policy, Mr. Raja had caused huge loss to the government and India. A free and fair bidding procedure was not followed, she claimed.
Ms. Jayalalitha said she had information that “substantial incriminating documents" have been unearthed in the CBI raid on the Department of Telecom headquarters. "The interest of justice will not be served if at this stage Mr. Raja continues to preside over the Telecom Ministry. He is in a position to tamper with evidence and influence officials who are in the
know of things.
Demanding that the probe should cover beneficiaries also, Ms Jayalalitha said,"the shareholders of controversial companies like Swan and Unitech have to be interrogated" and "the truth behind Tiger holdings, Peacock, Genex Exim and other mysterious hands behind these `letter pad' organizations has to be made public".
- Asian Tribune -
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