2G: Internal feud breaks out in CAG, BJP's Joshi under fire

, Nov 23: An internal feud has erupted in Comptroller and Auditor General of India (

) office over "presumptive"

loss figure on Friday, Nov 23. Moreover, Public Accounts Committee Chairman and senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (

) Murli Manohar Joshi was also dragged into the controversy. A key retired officer of the CAG has said that he was forced to sign the controversial report on the scam.

RP Singh, former director general, Post and Telecommunications at CAG, has said that he was made to sign the controversial report that pegged the 2G scam presumptive loss at a whopping Rs 1.76 lakh crore, even though he had a disagreement with the report's findings, said media reports

Singh, who was the officer behind the CAG's 2G spectrum allocation audit, revealed that officials of the auditor had met senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who is also the chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), at his residence on a holiday to assist him in the preparation of the report on the 2G spectrum allocation.

It may be noted that the PAC report on the CAG's 2G findings had strongly criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Attorney-General GE Vahanvati for their roles in the spectrum allocation.

Singh disowned the report saying it was not his and that he was merely asked to sign on it. He further asked that leaks by the office of the CAG be investigated.

"This loss figure (of Rs 1.76 lakh crore) did appear before me in a draft audit report submitted by my field office. I carried out discussion with them. I asked for the supporting documents, on what basis they are saying these are the losses. They said, 'we are taking it as presumption'. I said in performance audit there is nothing called presumption loss. So I deleted this figure and while forwarding my version of the report, I clearly mentioned why I am deleting these figures. It seems that at the time of examination in CAG office, these loss figures were restored," said Singh to CNN-IBN.

OneIndia News