UPA under stress again over controversial 2G note
The 2G scam resurfaced to haunt the Government, this time through a Finance Ministry note that seemed to indicate that P. Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister during 2008 could have prevented the shenanigans of disgraced Ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja. The top brass of the Government went into a tizzy and took a lot of pain to dismiss the relevance and importance of the note. The controversial note came to light while the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister were away in the US for the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF.
The Opposition pounded on the 2G note to sharpen its attack on the Government. Chidambaram, who is now the Home Minister, is believed to have offered his resignation but the same was rejected by both, the PM as well as Sonia Gandhi. All the top Congress leaders met each other to try and defuse the tension over the 2G note. The Prime Minister, on its way back from the US dismissed media suggestion of any rift in his Cabinet and instead accused the Opposition of trying to force the issue. The BJP of course kept the pressure on the Centre by demanding Chidambaram's resignation.
But, Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister managed to broker a truce between the Finance Minister and his predecessor. Mukherjee said that the contents of the 2G note didn't reflect his views. Both of them buried the hatchet and said for the Government the chapter on the 2G note was closed.
The 10-page note suggesting that Chidambaram could have got Raja to cancel the 2G licences was actually released by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as part of a response to a Right to Information (RTI) application not once but thrice this year. The note, drafted on March 25, by Finance Ministry official P.G.S. Rao, was first released to a Maharashtra-based RTI activist in May and subsequently to Delhi-based RTI activist Subhash Agarwal in July. BJP’s RTI specialist Vivek Garg secured the same note through another RTI application which triggered the latest controversy in the long-standing 2G saga.
PM accuses Opposition of trying to destabilise UPA regime
Corruption is multifaceted problem: FM
FM on 2G note: It doesn't reflect my views
...ADAG stocks slip on fresh concern about 2G scam fallout
Shares of ADAG companies have taken a severe beating amid media reports that the CBI has offered the three executives of the Anil Ambani group companies to turn approvers in the ongoing 2G trial. Reports also said that the CBI continues to probe Anil Ambani's alleged role in the controversial Swan Telecom deal.
Reliance Capital was down nearly 12% at Rs. 315, while Reliance Infrastructure was down 7% at Rs. 373. RCOM was down 7.6% at Rs. 71 while Reliance Power was down ~4% at Rs. 76.80. Reliance Broadcast Network was down ~13% at Rs. 69while Reliance MediaWorks was down ~6% at Rs. 90.95.
ADAG refuted media reports of its three executives, who are facing a CBI probe into the controversial Swan Telecom deal, considering turning approvers in the high-profile trial. ADAG said that none of its executives, charged in the 2G mobile phone license case, has expressed any intention to become approvers.
"Neither Reliance Telecom nor promoter group are beneficiaries of any telecom licence issued in January 2008," spokesman Daljeet Singh said in a statement. The ADAG statement also denied that the three executives charged in the multi-billion-dollar telecoms scandal had retracted their statements in the ongoing court case.
CBI lawyer K.K. Venugopal was quoted as saying that the three ADAG accused have now retracted previous statements in which they had taken responsibility for decisions made in the ADAG unit they worked for, reports said. "Suddenly they are going back on their statement and are now saying that they are only employees and in no way they benefited monetarily," Venugopal said. "We are going to take our probe further to find out who are the real beneficiaries," he said, according to reports.
The three ADAG executives currently facing charges of conspiracy and abetment to cheating in the 2G scam are Gautam Doshi (MD, Reliance ADAG); Surendra Pipara (Senior V-P of ADAG and Reliance Telecom) and Hari Nair (Senior V-P ADAG). They are currently in New Delhi's famous Tihar jail.
The ADAG pack was also under pressure due to reports that the CBI was examining the role of Anil Ambani in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal. The CBI lawyer told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Anil Ambani was under investigation. He was questioned earlier this year. "The role of Ambani and other employees in relation to 9.9 the percent share in the Swan Telecom which was sold to Delphi is being probed," Venugopal was quoted as saying.
2G scam: CBI files additional charges against A Raja and others
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