| Policy & Regulation | | | 2G scam: Sanjay Chandra drags PM into controversy | | | TT Correspondent | | 03 May 2011 | | |   Sanjay Chandra, Managing Director of Unitech group who along with four other corporate honchos, is in jail in connection with 2G scam, today claimed in the Delhi High Court that the policy of first-come-first serve (FCFS) policy was backed by the Prime Minister.
"So far as the formulation of policy is concerned, I am not the operative cause and the operative cause (for the FCFS policy) is the head of the government," noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Chandra of Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd, told Justice Ajit Bharihoke.
The petition on which the CBI probe was ordered by the Supreme Court on the issue had alleged that instead of following the policy of auction, the DoT went ahead with the FCFS based on the 2001 price.
Citing from the speeches of the Prime Minister in Parliament and in a public function, Jethmalani said the head of the government had endorsed the FCFS policy for the grant of UAS licenses.
"The poor man, my client, did not persuade the Prime Minister to talk like this," Jethmalani said while arguing for bail for Chandra who, along with four other corporate bigwigs, has been arrested in connection with the scam.
Besides Chandra of Unitech, Swan Telecom Director Vinod Goenka and three top officials of Reliance ADA Group Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are in jail after their bail plea was dismissed by the special court on April 20.
Jethmalani rubbished CBI's plea that Chandra had entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and his personal secretary RK Chandolia and secured licenses for eight Unitech group companies.
"I have not made the kill but I have been killed. My case is on different footing as I did not sell a single share and, in fact, incurred lost around Rs 10,000 crore," he said.
In response to the allegation that Unitech had got the demand draft of Rs 1658 crore ready as early as on October 10, 2007, he said "this shows that I am not an insider. If I had the prior knowledge about the alleged conspiracy, then I should not have lost at least Rs 50 crore as interest on entry fee."
Terming Unitech group MD as a "timid and nervous man", Jethmalani said the DD was prepared in advance as he was extra cautious.
The defence lawyer sought to discredit AK Srivastava, Deputy Director General of DoT and a key prosecution witness, saying "CBI is relying on the testimony of a person who could have been made an accused easily."
The court then deferred the hearing on the bail plea of other corporate honchos on May 5. |
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