2G Scam: Shourie questioned by CBI

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) Former Indian Telecom minister
Arun Shourie was Friday questioned by the CBI during which he
alleged that his successor Dayanidhi Maran had tweaked the
TRAI guidelines in 2005 to benefit some operators.
Emerging after a three-hour long question session,
Shourie told reporters that he had cited several instances to
the investigating officers of alleged irregularities during
Maran's tenure before A Raja took over as Telecom minister in
2007.
"Maran was the Minister. What is Raja being accused of?
Giving these 122 licenses without spectrum, when there is no
spectrum with the Government. But it was in Maran's time that
one sentence was put into the guidelines that there shall be
no cap on the number of operators in a circle," he said.
Shourie said such a change could only come as a Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendation.
"This (change) comes in the guidelines of 2005 whereas
the TRAI did not recommend it till 2007. So by what horoscope
under Maran was it decided that yes we can anticipate this
recommedation before two years and start. That is how some
operations were planned that could not go through and Raja
acted on them," he quipped.
He also advised Raja to turn approver for the agency and
spill the beans about the beneficiaries of this scam.
Shourie, who reached the Central Bureau of Investigation
headquarters in the morning, was questioned along with the
then Department of Telecom Secretary Vinod Vaish.
He said he had requested the presence of Vaish and some
other officials because of their technical knowledge about the
issue.
"I told them (the investigators) what were the
circumstances and how individual decisions (regarding spectrum
allocation) were taken that time (during his tenure) and that
there was not a slightest departure from TRAI recommendations.
There was not a slightest departure from the Cabinet
decisions," Shourie said.
Handing over a 50-page note prepared by him on various
issues relating to 2G-spectrum allocation policy appearing in
the media, Shourie said he was ready to appear again if called
by the agency.
The eminent journalist said he informed the CBI that TRAI
did not do anything "surreptitiously" during his tenure and
all the decisions were taken after open consultations.
"Not one of the 28 licenses was given for any lucrative
area. They were given for the areas in which nobody was going.
The objective of the Government was that in the North east,
Bihar, Eastern UP and Jammu and Kashmir, mobile telephony
should be extended and we achieved that," he said. (More) PTI