2G scam: Shourie trashes Patil report, claims to have suppressed facts

Trashing the report on the 2G spectrum allocation scam by former Supreme Court judge Shivraj Patil, telecom minister in the NDA regime Arun Shourie on Tuesday accused the current union telecom minister Kapil Sibal of trying to save his disgraced predecessor A Raja by using a ''hand-picked'' judge for the probe.

"Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is an advocate of A Raja. He always tried to save Raja by saying that he had informed everything to the prime minister," Shourie told reporters in Mumbai.

Shourie said the report by Patil, appointed by the government in December, is a complete misrepresentation and distortion and it only helps the government.

The report had said procedures followed by the NDA government in 2003 as also by the UPA government till 2008 in the allocation of licences and spectrum were not transparent and it was not done in a fair manner.

"Sibal is lying," Shourie said bluntly, adding that Raja changed the priority list for spectrum allocation in 2008 and advanced the cut-off date to help certain companies.

"A handpicked judge gives the report to the government which is so convenient that they can derail the issue. It is a perversity. How can documents be suppressed," he asked, blasting the report and Sibal.

"I have the documents which were suppressed and not placed before the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General)," he added.

The CAG has estimated the financial loss to the exchequer in the allocation of 2G spectrum licences by Raja, now in Central Bureau of Investigation custody, at Rs1.76 lakh crore.

Shourie said, "Justice Patil says we (the BJP regime) deviated from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendations, but actually every single TRAI recommendation was adhered to by us in letter and spirit. On every single matter of this we consulted TRAI and acted accordingly. This was done in consultation with the finance ministry. The member, finance was sitting in on every meeting. His signatures are on every decision, including the first come, first served policy," he said.

''The Atal Behari Vajpayee cabinet was not like Manmohan Singh's, where each minister does as he pleases. These were all collective decisions,'' he added tellingly.