TELECOM-LD SHOURIE 2 LAST

Shourie said he feels that CBI should concentrate on
where the money was exchanged rather than procedures because
they are mere circumstantial evidence of any changes being
made in them to benefit some parties.
"I pointed out to them the things which were to happen
in accordance with Cabinet decisions never happened neither
during Maran term and certainly not under Raja. And they never
went back to the Cabinet for changing the decision. That is
the telling point...Real issue is money was exchanged," he
said.
On the issue of Prime Minister's statement that Law
Ministry, Finance Ministry and Telecom Ministry were working
in synergy over spectrum pricing, he refused to give direct
reply but said Law Minister H R Bharadwaj wanted the matter to
be referred to the Group of Ministers but Raja managed to get
terms of reference of GOM changed.
"The matter never goes to GOM, does that show harmony?
Chidambaram keeps writing letters and objecting, Subba Rao
kept writing letters and if Raja then persists in doing
something to contrary to what they are recommending and
Finance Ministry then reconciles to let by gones be by
gones...to infer that they are in harmony is Prime Minister's
prerogative," he said.
He said he clarified to the investigators some "four-five
issues" raised by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Justice
Shivraj Patil's report which he termed as based on
"concoctions".
Shourie had held the telecom portfolio between January
2003 and May 2004 in the NDA regime.
According to the CBI, nearly 50 licences were given
out then on a first-come-first-serve basis and Bharti,
Vodafone and Idea were among the beneficiaries of the policy.
The former telecom minister also lambasted Shivraj
Patil committee's report, saying these "signatures for hire"
(referring to Patil) did not see the documents themselves.
He said Government was trying to divert attention from
the real issue that kickbacks were received in 2G spectrum
allocation.
"While media is busy covering visits of industrialists
and corporates to the CBI, the Prime Minister's name is out,
(DMK leader) M Karunanidhi's name is out. Names of other
Congress members are out," he said.
He said as per his information, the CBI has spoken to
the whistleblower who had given the inputs about the scam.
When asked about Prime Minister's statement on coalition
politics, Shourie said, "Now Raja has been put in jail, has
any consequence followed for the coalition. Why not look at
the compulsions of the DMK? They cannot go against the central
government. See their compulsions as well." PTI