CAG's lead auditor in 2G scam had questioned investigation: report

In what could be acutely embarrassing to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in the 2G spectrum scam probe, news channel CNN-IBN today claimed to have accessed a letter written by RP Singh, lead auditor in CAG's 2G probe, in which he questioned the entire investigation.

"We are not on strong grounds in the arguments made," Singh says in the letter.

The officer also wrote in the letter that since the headquarters had instructed for a draft it might be forwarded. RP Singh's disagreement with the loss estimated by the CAG in the 2G scam was reported by the news channel at an earlier instance.

RP Singh had prepared the draft report in the 2G probe and had been asked by Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai, not to speak to the telecom ministry regarding his disagreements.

In a related development, Headlines Today, accessed a year-old letter of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) secretary R Chandrashekhar that slammed the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG's) draft performance audit report on spectrum allocation.

On 21 September 2010, Chandrashekhar wrote to director general (audit) RP Singh, asking the CAG to steer clear of policy decisions taken by the government.

Citing the law ministry's opinion dated 7 September 2010, Chandrashekhar said the CAG did not have the powers to challenge the government's policy decisions.

Earlier, on 26 May 2010, CAG's DG, RB Sinha, had warned Singh against sharing information with any agency at his level and had also warned him to make available all findings and records during the course of the audit to the CAG headquarters.

Sinha had told Singh that the final audit findings would be compiled and prepared by CAG headquarters.