Author: Sruthijith KK, ET Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: July 27, 2011
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/2g-scam-pm-smelled-something-fishy-but-stayed-away-says-arun-shourie/articleshow/9378079.cms
Former telecom minister A Raja's statements
in court has opened a new political battlefront, with BJP demanding the resignation
of the Prime Minister and P Chidambaram, who was finance minister when the
2G spectrum allocation was made. The telecom minister during the NDA regime,
Arun Shourie, has been tracking developments on the 2G trial. In an interview
to ET, Shourie discusses what he believes the PM knew, going by the file notings,
Raja's defence that he inherited the policy, and other related issues. Excerpts:
Q.: Are you inclined to believe Raja's statements
that he did everything with FM's and PM's knowledge?
A.: Raja was very clever. He wrote about 18 letters to the PM during the 2G
episode. And in each letter, he implicated somebody. For instance in his letter
on 7 November, 2008, he says, "kindly recall my meeting with you on 4/11/2008
along with the honourable Finance Minister in connection with 3G spectrum
auction and one time spectrum charges for 2G. During the discussion, you advised
me to meet the press, to explain the policy and rules.
Accordingly, I addressed the issues in the
press conference today and explained the related issues including the dilution
of shares as explained by the Finance Minister, of Swan and Unitech."
The same day he issues a press release, in which he repeats that this issue
has been explained by the Finance Minister. "This matter has been discussed
and clarified with the Finance Minister," the press release says, in
which this portion is in bold!
Then the FM himself has said, yes, the PM
asked me to examine this particular matter. He says I examined it, I said
it is dilution of equity and it was consistent with policy and procedure.
If that is the case, how is it that now, the Enforcement Directorate, which
is under the same ministry, has slapped a 7100 crore penalty on Etisalat?
For violation of FEMA!
If everything was done as per policy and
procedure, then how? It now transpires, according to ED, that Etisalat was
given permission to bring in money from UAE. But it, instead, brought in money
from an unknown unit in Mauritius. Secondly, on the same day, Syed Salauddin,
a close associate of Mr Karunanidhi, brought in 380 crore. He was allowed
to bring it in as a domestic investor and he brought the money from UAE. He
has also been slapped with a Fema notice. Both things happened in Swan on
the same day.
Q.: So, is Raja on firm ground?
A.: All these statements these lawyers like Kapil Sibal are making now, saying
everything was in order and there was zero gain to the companies, are statements
that will be used by these companies to defend themselves in notices. Kapil
Sibal is not the lawyer for the PM, he is the lawyer for Raja and the companies.
It is not Raja who is dragging in the PM
now. You go back to Sibal's first press conference on this matter. There he
said Raja kept the FM and the PM informed at every turn. I had said at that
time that this is the sentence that Raja will use. That is exactly what has
happened. Now you wait and see. When the Telecom Minister says the companies
made no gain, that will be their defence.
The PM had said in Parliament in February
that the then FM and Raja had agreed on a formula and this was communicated
to him. Raja says the equity dilution in Swan Telecom and Unitech was discussed
and cleared with the FM before the PM. FM says the PM wanted to know if it
was a case of dilution of equity or divestment. This shows that the matter
that has caused the most outrage, that these two companies benefitted from
enormous valuation for a license they paid the government very little for,
was known to the PM and he did nothing about the policy that allowed these
companies to do this.
All this is in the public domain. Priority
lists have been changed, the basis of first-come-first-served had been changed,
cut off date had been advanced and 500 applicants were reduced for favoured
companies. It now turns out from the CBI chargesheet that the license applications
of three companies were approved even before the policy was announced.
You mean to say rivals would not have brought
it to the attention of TKA Nair (Principal Secretary to the PM) and others
in the PMO? Do you mean to say the Intelligence Bureau and CBI and others
would not have brought this to their attention? I cannot believe that. Because
our system is so structured that the PM and his office gets to know about
every sparrow that moves in the government. That I can testify from personal
knowledge.
Q.: This was all in public domain...
A.: The notings on the file indicate that the PM was quite alarmed at what
was happening. These licenses were given on 10 January, 2008. On 11 January,
the Principal Secretary notes that the PM desires to take into account the
developments concerning the issue of licenses. This means perhaps that he
wanted to have a meeting about it. The file is submitted back to the PMO on
15 January. Now see what the Principal Secretary notes.
"Prime Minister wants this informally
shared with the department. He does not want a formal communication and wants
PMO to be at arms length". Why would he give this instruction to his
officers unless he knew that there is murky stuff going on and it is better
to stay away. I think he had full knowledge and I think he had deep apprehension
that something terrible has happened and his only concern was let's stay away
from the filth. That is not what a PM is supposed to do.
You mean, he knew but shied away from taking
any action?
This particular sentence, at arms length,
very well describes Dr Manmohan Singh's attitude in regard to CWG, defence
acquisitions and every other major decision. Weapons purchases are not happening
because Mr Antony (Defence Minister) also wants to stay at arms length on
every decision. I think this will be an apt title for a book on Dr Singh's
tenure as PM - At Arm's Length.
Raja has also said that if the policy was
wrong, all former telecom ministers must be jailed.
Raja says that he was following earlier policies
but he flouted them. Take first-come-first-served (FCFS): He says I will FCFS.
Then he disregards pending applications. If you were following the policy,
you should have dealt with them first. Then he says I will have this cut-off
date of October 1. After the applications are received, he says no, I will
advance deadline to 25 {+t}{+h} September.
Then he changes FCFS. First, it was time
and date of application received. And suddenly it becomes time and date of
fulfilling the conditions in the letter of intent. Where is LoI? People rushed
for it. It says, within 40 minutes, bring a banker's draft of Rs1,650 crore.
Companies he favoured already has those drafts from Mumbai and sitting in
his office. How could they get it in 40 minutes?
When he could not find adequate spectrum
for his favoured companies, he changes the priority list in the Punjab and
Maharashtra circles. You show me one single, unique, solitary instance during
my period or anybody else's period during NDA when any of this would have
happened. So yes, people who do wrong should be in jail and continue to be
in jail without bail.
