New Delhi, Dec 21: Judge OP Saini who pronounced the verdict on the cases related 2G spectrum allocation scam said he waited in court from 10 AM to 5 PM for seven years for legally admissible evidence but that did not happen. On Thursday, former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi and others accused in the alleged scam were acquitted by the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. Coming as a relief to those accused, Judge Saini said the CBI was clueless about the investigation while letting the former ministers and others go.
Judge Saini, while reading out 1552-page verdict said, ” I may also add that for the last about seven years, on all working days, summer vacation included, I religiously sat in the open Court from 10 AM to 5 PM, awaiting for someone with some legally admissible evidence in his possession, but all in vain.”
“Not a single soul turned up. This indicates that everybody was going by public perception created by rumour, gossip and speculation.” He added,” However, public perception has no place in judicial proceedings.”
The judgement upset the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with its ministers claiming that although the Congress has presented their zero loss theory, it was proven wrong when the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2012.
Addressing media after the verdict, Finance minister Arun Jaitley said, “The Congress is treating 2G verdict as a badge of honour, but its zero loss theory was proven wrong when the Supreme Court quashed spectrum allocation in February 2012.”
Stressing on their allegations, Jaitley said, “In 2007-08, spectrum was not given by auction, but on the basis of price discovery which was based on 2001 prices. It was then changed to first-come, first-pay policy. Favourite few were told in advance about the policy.” He added, “This was a corrupt and dishonest policy, which has already been upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.”
On the other hand, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was accused of turning a blind eye to the actions of former minister A Raja, called the alleged scam a propaganda and said, “We respect the court’s verdict. I’m glad that the court has pronounced that the massive propaganda against UPA was without any foundation.”
The 2G Spectrum allocation scam was believed to be the biggest scam in the history of Independent India. It was related to allocation of 2G spectrum to mobile service provider companies, with a report by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Vinod Rai alleging it caused a loss of at least Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer.
However, the then UPA-led government had refuted any such losses from the beginning and had claimed there were zero losses.
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