Telecom case heads to the roots - Airtel, BJP in line of fire

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111120/jsp/frontpage/story_14775756.jsp

Telecom case heads to the roots - Airtel, BJP in line of fire

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, Nov. 19: The spectrum scandal today leaped across political and corporate fences to reach the doorsteps of the BJP and the big daddies of telecom. The CBI registered a case alleging irregularities in additional spectrum allocation during the BJP-led NDA regime between 2001 and 2003 that caused a loss of Rs 508 crore to the exchequer. The agency has accused the late BJP leader and the then telecom minister, Pramod Mahajan, of having condoned a conspiracy to sell additional spectrum at low prices to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Vodafone Essar Mobile Services. After registering an FIR, CBI officials searched the offices of Airtel in Gurgaon and Vodafone in Mumbai and Delhi. This is the first time Airtel, the early bird that grew into a behemoth with the largest subscriber base in India, is being formally linked to the telecom scandal. The case modifies the complexion of the 2G controversy as it ties the BJP also to a millstone that has been weighing down the UPA so far. The allegations against Airtel and Vodafone have other connotations as the UPA’s defenders have been suggesting — without enough articulation — that it succeeded in breaking monopolies which are getting back at the government by blowing the corruption out of proportion. A spokesperson for Bharti Airtel said: “All the spectrum allotted to us from time to time has been strictly as per the stated government policy.” Vodafone said the company had acted in “complete compliance” with rules and was co-operating with the officials. Britain’s Vodafone bought a 67 per cent stake in Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian mobile unit in 2007, renaming it Vodafone Essar. The BJP defended Mahajan and saw a “last-ditch attempt” to save P. Chidambaram who was finance minister when A. Raja allotted 2G. The CBI has levelled charges against Shyamal Ghosh, the telecom secretary when Mahajan was minister, and J.R. Gupta, then deputy director-general of the DoT. The house of Ghosh in Delhi was among the premises searched today . “Ghosh and Gupta entered into a criminal conspiracy with three beneficiary private companies. The public servants had the approval of the then telecom minister,” said a senior CBI officer. “Had Pramod Mahajan been alive, we would have made him the prime accused. But it is a policy not to register a case against a dead person and his name would figure only in the chargesheet,” the officer said. The accused have been booked under charges that carry seven years in jail. “They sold the additional spectrum at throwaway prices. This decision was reversed by Raja (now in jail) by widening the pool of players. It is another matter that Raja seemed to have reaped gains from some of the new beneficiaries,” the CBI officer said.