December 13, 2024 10:28 (IST)
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Spectrum allocation scam: Jaitley accuses Kapil Sibal of fabricating charges
New Delhi, Oct 16 (IBNS) As a court discharged all the accused, including former bureaucrat Shyamal Ghosh, in the spectrum allocation scam case and indicted the CBI for framing false charges, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley alleged that the whole thing was done at the behest of Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was the Telecom Minister in the UPA Government.
"Indeed the officers are guilty of fabricating charges against an honest Civil Servant and others...." There is no doubt that the Chargesheet was filed at the behest of Shri Kapil Sibal, the Telecom Minister in the UPA Government," Jaitley said in his facebook post on Thursday.
His accusation came after a special 2G court on Thursday discharged former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and two others in the 2002 additional spectrum allocation scam case while indicting CBI for filing "false and fabricated" chargesheet.
The court also discharged telecom companies Vodafone and Airtel in excess spectrum allocation scam case and directed the CBI Director to make an inquiry against erring officials.
Special CBI Judge OP Saini observed that the CBI tried to mislead the court and the chargesheet filed by it was full of "distorted facts". The court asked the CBI Director to conduct an inquiry against the "erring officials" for filing such a chargesheet in the case.
Hailing the court's verdict, Jaitley said: "I had consistently maintained that this charge sheet was full of fabricated facts. I had written an Article on 2nd April, 2013 in ‘The Hindustan Times’ commenting on this charge sheet."
" The Court has vindicated what we had always maintained. The CBI Officers who acted on the dictates of the political government will now face an enquiry," he said.
" But what about the Ministers who conspired to create a fabricated charge sheet and a retired Judge who, for the sake of a post-retirement assignment, agreed to lend his Offices for the same?", Jaitley asked.
Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms -- Hutchison Max(P) Ltd, Sterling Cellular Ltd and Bharti Cellular Ltd -- were chargesheeted in connection with the charge of allocating additional spectrum that had allegedly led to a loss of Rs 846.44 crore to the state exchequer.
Ghosh, a 1965-batch retired IAS officer, was the Telecom Secretary between February 7, 2000 and May 31, 2002.
CBI had earlier argued that Ghosh had given additional spectrum to the telecom companies at "throwaway prices".
Ghosh had contended that private firms were not the only beneficiaries of surplus radio waves, but state-run MTNL and BSNL had also benefited.
The accused firms had also countered CBI's loss to the exchequer theory, saying they were allotted "spare radio waves" which would have caused gain to the government.
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