PM, Chidambaram decided against selling licences: Kanimozhi

New Delhi, Aug 23: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were fully in the loop on the 2G spectrum license allocation and had decided along with then Telecom Minister A Raja not to auction them, jailed DMK MP Kanimozhi told a Delhi court today (Aug 23).

"I am showing you (judge) the minutes of the meeting in which the Prime Minister, the then Finance Minister and the Telecom Minister decided that the licences for the 2G spectrum was not to be sold/auctioned," senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Kanimozhi, told the Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

Seeking discharge from the case, the counsel for the 43-year-old DMK MP, said the CBI case is based on the premise that the accused caused huge loss to the state exchequer by not auctioning the licences for the 2G spectrum.

"The Prime Minister, the then Finance Minister and the present Telecom Minister are ''good enough'' as witnesses to prove that there was no loss. They are on record in Parliament that the government did not incur any loss," Kumar said.

"The moment, the loss factor goes out, the charge of cheating also goes out," Kumar said, adding that the basic foundation of the CBI case cannot sustain the legal process.

The defence counsel also trashed the computation of loss by the CBI and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) saying they are "just notional loss" and cannot be a basis for prosecution of the accused.

"The CAG report (of loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state) was laid before the House on November 16, 2010. It had not been adopted by the House. It is still in the limbo as the House is yet to adopt the report," the counsel said.

PTI