Raja, aides to be produced in court today

Former telecom minister A Raja will be produced in the Patiala House court on Thursday, a day after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 2G spectrum scam case. Raja, along with his personal secretary RK Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, will appear at court for the hearing after spending the night in Tihar Jail.

Raja was arrested on Wednesday even as the scam-hit Manmohan Singh government hoped this tangible action against corruption would help restore its credibility, dilute the opposition's onslaught and help it break the stalemate in Parliament.

Soon after, the DMK seemed set to suspend him.

The CBI held Raja and two of his close associates, retired IAS officer Siddhartha Behura, who was telecom secretary in 2008, and Raja's personal secretary, RK Chandolia, for allegedly manipulating procedures while allocating the second-generation telecom spectrum licences in 2007-08.

All three had been called to the CBI headquarters in the morning and will spend the night in a CBI lock-up.

Raja, (47), the Dalit face of the DMK and a five- time member of the Lok Sabha, was forced to resign on November 14, 2010 after details of a CAG report — stating that the spectrum allocation led to a R1.76 lakh crore notional loss to the exchequer — became public.

His arrest came two days after his mentor and DMK chief M Karunanidhi held discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on strengthening ties for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

For the DMK, it was a toss-up between the impact of inaction against corruption and Raja's vote-bank.

For the Congress, the action was imperative to substantiate its claim that it was serious about tackling corruption. But the Congress dismissed suggestions that the arrest would affect the credibility of the PM or raise questions about the collective responsibility of the Cabinet and the accountability of the PM for not acting earlier against Raja.

The 2G scam paralysed the entire winter session over the opposition's demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe. The issue may trouble the forthcoming budget session too. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has convened an all-party meeting on February 8 to resolve the stalemate.

Although the uneasy UPA government, also hit by the Adarsh society and Commonwealth Games scams, hoped the arrest would help it restore its credibility, the opposition termed it "too little, too late".

Sources said unlike the Congress, which has shown its intent by acting against Raja, former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan and Suresh Kalmadi, the BJP is yet to punish anyone for the land scandal in Karnataka.

The sources also recalled the Tehelka expose on corruption in defence contracts in 2001 where no action was taken against former defence minister George Fernandes.

CBI sources said the decision to arrest Raja was taken after the agency unearthed details of some financial transactions of Raja between October 2007, when the licensing process began, and January 2008, when the licences were issued.

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2G spectrum scam: CBI knows who handled bribe money, says Arun Shourie

New Delhi: In a new revelation on the 2G spectrum scam, BJP leader and former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie has said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) knows the identity of the man who handled the bribe money in the Telecom Ministry, and wondered why that person has not been questioned till now.

Speaking to Shekhar Gupta on NDTV's Walk the Talk, Shourie also said the CBI clearly knows the identities of the front companies that were used for the 2 G scam.

Shourie: The CBI knows to such an extent that the officer has said that these companies' representatives used to bring the note which he should sign on a pen drive. It used to be put into my computer, a print taken and Raja would sign it. To this detail the CBI knows. CBI knows the identity of the front companies that were used.

Shekhar: Front companies for money transactions...bribe transactions?

Shourie: I would have no doubt, otherwise they are not doing charity here...and the correspondence is there. The correspondence of the licenses being given and the company suddenly prospering...they suddenly become very great consultants...they suddenly get very great infrastructure projects...they can't show which is the bridge they have built...the CBI knows the identity of the critical person who handled the money and it is a mystery to the other officers as to why that a particular officer has not been questioned to this date.

The accommodation of allies by the PM... in the terms of reference of the Group of Ministers, the pricing of spectrum was included and Raja insisted that no this should be taken out...and somehow this was taken out from the reference of the Group of Ministers. It could not have been done in our system without the knowledge of the PM.


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http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/2g-spectrum-scam-cbi-knows-who-handled-bribe-money-says-arun-shourie-66796