Telecom case mystery: No company official is accused
"In
a
conspiracy,
there
must
be
two
parties.
You
(CBI)
are
blaming
only
the
government
servants.
Why
not
the
private
persons?
Who
did
the
conspiracy
with
the
government
servants?"
Special
CBI
Judge
OP
Saini
asked
today.
In
response,
CBI
prosecutor
K
K
Goyal
could
only
say
that
the
agency
they
had
tried
their
best
to
find
out
if
any
company
officials
were
part
of
the
conspiracy
but
they
could
not
find
anybody's
name.
"We could not find out anybody's name. We tried to find out who are the persons who instigated this but we could not find out. We tried our best," Goyal said.
Judge
Saini
reserved
the
order
for
March
19
on
the
issue
of
taking
cognisance
of
the
charge
sheet.
During
the
hearing,
CBI
told
the
court
that
no
resolution
was
passed
by
these
companies
for
applying
for
additional
spectrum.
The court had earlier directed the CBI to place before it documents relating to resolution passed by the three firms, including Airtel and Vodafone, for seeking additional spectrum during the NDA regime.
The CBI had on December 21 last year filed a charge sheet in which former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms -- Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Pvt Ltd (now known as Vodafone India Ltd) and Sterling Cellular Ltd (now known as Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd) -- have been named as accused.
In the 57-page charge sheet, the CBI has booked the accused under criminal conspiracy (120-B) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court had earlier granted additional time to CBI to submit documents sought from it in the case. The court had told the CBI that these telecom firms must have approached the government first for seeking additional spectrum and they must have also passed a resolution in this regard.
It had also told CBI that the case is about the pricing dispute over additional spectrum and the agency should file the documents relating to passing of any such resolution by these companies.
The CBI, in its charge sheet, has named the three telecom companies as accused in the case in which DoT had allegedly allocated additional spectrum resulting in a loss of Rs 846 crore to the exchequer.
OneIndia News