Special court exonerates all accused in 2G spectrum ‘scam’

In an extraordinary twist to the 2G spectrum 'scam', a Special CBI Court today Thursday acquitted all accused, including former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi, in the Rs30,000 crore 2G spectrum allocation scam cases.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini pronounced the judgment clearing 19 accused of all charges in the Enforcement Directorate's money laundering case which was part of the 2G scam.

"The court said that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove any of its charge. Thus all accused are acquitted," defence counsel Vijay Aggarwal said outside the courtroom soon after the shock verdict.

The operative part of the verdict read, "There is no material on record to show that Sh. A. Raja was mother lode of conspiracy in the instant case. There is also no evidence of his no-holds-barred immersion in any wrongdoing, conspiracy or corruption ... I may add that many facts recorded in the charge sheet are factually incorrect, like Finance Secretary strongly recommending revision of entry fee, deletion of a clause of draft LOI by Sh. A. Raja, recommendations of TRAI for revision of entry fee etc."

Special CBI judge OP Saini's order, running into over 1,500 pages, had some harsh words for the Central Bureau of Investigation, the key probe agency in the case. "Religiously sat in open court for the last 7 years from 10 am to 5 pm even during summer vacation awaiting for someone with legally admissible evidence. Not a single soul turned up," he wrote.

Apart from the two DMK politicians, others acquitted in the case are former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.

Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani are also exonerated in the case.

Besides them, three telecom firms - Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd - were also accused and are now exonerated.

'Bewildered' CBI vows action

In the first official reaction following the verdict, CNN-News18 quoted the CBI as saying that evidence adduced to substantiate charges has not been appreciated by the court.

''The judgment relating to the 2G scam dated 21.12.2017 has been prima facie examined and it appears that the evidence adduced to substantiate the charges by the prosecution has not been appreciated in its proper perspective by the learned court. The CBI is taking necessary legal remedies in the matter,'' an agency official said.

Former Central Bureau of Investigation Director A P Singh, who led the arrests of A Raja and corporate bosses, expressed bewilderment at the acquittal of all accused.

"I don't know what happened in the trial but there were clear irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum which we (CBI) pointed out with detailed evidence," A P Singh told The Times of India.

All key accused were present for the verdict at the Patiala House courtroom, which has been the scene of high drama since November 2011, when the trial in the main 2G case began.

The court directed all persons acquitted in the case to furnish a bail bond of Rs5 lakh each to ensure their presence in a higher appellate court should the verdict be challenged.

There were three cases before special judge Saini - two registered by the CBI and one by the Enforcement Directorate. The CBI's first case is the main 2G suit where Raja figures prominently, along with party MP Kanimozhi.

Arguing his own case, and even getting into the 'box' to be cross-examined continuously for nearly a fortnight, Raja had specific issues to counter - one, he advanced the cut-off date for receiving applications from 10 October 2007 to 1 October 2007, thereby eliminating 408 out of the 575 applicants from the race.

Two, violation of the first-come-first-served policy; three, eligibility of various companies that did not have any prior experience, and four, non-revision of entry fee for new operators.

Raja stunned the court on more than one occasion by repeating that everyone who mattered, including then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was aware of the key decisions and that it was Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that had eliminated the 'experience' clause besides making it clear that any firm that could deposit Rs1,650 crore would be eligible to bid for spectrum.

"Why would the minister involve outsiders such as the prime minister, the law minister, finance minister, external affairs minister and the solicitor-general of India in the decision-making process if there were a conspiracy?" Raja had contended during court proceedings.

The CBI, however, said he was a ''consummate liar'' and the main conspirator who had colluded with inexperienced companies to grant them out-of-turn 2G spectrum licences against kickbacks.

The second CBI case involves promoters of Essar Group, Loop Telecom and Saraf.

While the prosecution had charged them with the offence under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.