Author: J Gopikrishnan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 11, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/344978/2G's-next-generation.html
Kapil Sibal thought he could deflect public
attention from the Congress' role in the 2G scam by bringing all deals since
2001 under the scanner. Now, he has ended up trapping the DMK all over again
The investigation into the 2G spectrum scam
has now reached the doors of Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran. It was the result
of the ill advise of the Congress' dirty tricks department which tried to
draw the BJP into the net. They had that by bringing all telecom deals since
2001 into the ambit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee's probe they could
somehow find a scam involving the NDA government, which, in turn could deflect
attention from their own crime. However, that move backfired on them.
But whoever was advising the government forgot
the simple fact that Pramod Mahajan, the Telecom Minister from the BJP, has
been dead for five years and therefore it is no longer possible to take criminal
action against him. Without checking facts they bayed for the blood of Arun
Shourie (who was Minister from January 2003 to May 2004), who did everything
with the approval of Cabinet and Group of Ministers. Congress crisis managers,
especially new Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, who seems to believe that he
is the greatest authority on law, could scarcely conceal his glee when the
Supreme Court ordered the CBI to probe into spectrum allotments made in the
2001-2007 period. However, the UPA's managers somehow forgot that apart from
A Raja, they had another man in the Telecom hot seat - Dayanidhi Maran. The
son of Murasoli had headed that coveted Ministry from May 2004 to May 2007.
Now, Maran is facing the heat on a complaint
or deposition filed by the business tycoon C Sivashankaran to the CBI. After
five years, Siva, the founder of Aircel, the mobile telephony operations company,
is alleging that Maran had arm twisted him to sell his company to the Malaysian
giant, Maxis. He was forced to conduct the deal at the "meagre"
price of Rs 4,500 crore in mid 2006. Siva further alleged that Maran had delayed
his expansion by two years by issuing licenses in other telecom circles. The
allegations of quid pro quo on Maran is that after this deal the Maxis group
had invested Rs 600 crore in the Sun network which is owned by members of
his family.
Maran counters Siva's allegations and claims
Siva was planning to sell his company well before he became Telecom Minister
in UPA-1. Maran's argument the he has no share in Sun Network controlled by
his elder brother Kalanithi Maran is a laughable defense. Of course, Maxis'
investment in Sun Network is not a secret deal like Shahid Balwa linked companies'
dubious payoff of Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV. Maxis-Sun Network is approved
by SEBI and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on foreign investment.
Whether it was a quid pro quo for alleged arm twisting of Siva by Maran to
sell his company Aircel to Maxis at "cheap price", is to be probed
by CBI.
Yet, it is still amusing that after getting
Rs 4,500 crore, why did Siva float another shell company called STel with
just Rs 10 lakh capital. STel was ignored by Raja and won the case in 2G spectrum
allocation violations. After winning the case in the Delhi High court, what
made him compromise with Raja by withdrawing the case? Raja arm-twisted Siva
by citing a manipulated Home Ministry's directive and ordered to shut down
the operation of STel. Within three days, he withdrew from the case in Supreme
Court. But Raja's designs collapsed after Janata Party president Subramanian
Swamy impleaded in the battle between Raja and Siva. This murky deal is also
under investigation of CBI.
CAG declared STel's licenses illegal for violating
mandatory net worth guidelines of DoT. It is still a mystery why a person
who got Rs 4,500 crore floated a shell company in somebody's name. Has he
shared his booty with somebody in the Aircel selling?
I am not at all buying the versions in the
report of Justice Shivraj V Patil, appointed by Sibal. It is nothing but a
report written by a convenient judge. The retired Supreme Court judge never
mentioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's direction to Raja for freezing the
spectrum allocation on November 2, 2007. I have in my personal capacity submitted
to this retired Judge the copy of the Prime Minister's crucial letter, which
was first reported in The Pioneer in October 2009. This letter was kept in
the safe custody in Raja's home, till CBI's raid at his home in December 2010.
Raja never put this letter in the DoT files.
The violations in spectrum allotment started
from UPA by ignoring the Cabinet decision of the NDA on this matter. During
Shourie's tenure, the Cabinet decided in October 2003 that in determining
the price of the spectrum, the DoT should consult the Ministry of Finance.
But when Maran objected this decision and locked horns with the Finance Ministry
with the argument that the pricing of spectrum was the prerogative of DoT.
The then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, was not so strong to overrule Maran
due to the compulsions of coalition politics. Upon Maran's pressure Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh sided with his argument. Manmohan Singh approved Maran's
demand to change the Terms of Reference on spectrum pricing. The CAG report
on the 2G spectrum scam mentions this incident and says quoting rules that
a Cabinet decision can only be changed through another Cabinet decision.
This in effect shows that Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's approval to Maran's argument without going through the Cabinet decision
route was wrong. Moreover, when two ministries have difference of opinion,
like in the case of Finance and Telecom, the matter should be referred to
the Cabinet. The CAG report exposes this irregularity. The entire UPA has
now got to answer how they allotted telecom licenses and spectrums in 2006,
during Maran's tenure, at prices fixed in 2001. The CAG did not find loss
during Maran's tenure, simply due to the Prime Minister's approval in changing
the Terms of Reference of the GoM.
The new controversy surrounding Maran is on
the matter of operating an illegal telephone exchange of BSNL at his home
and dubiously connecting it to the offices of the Sun Network. Maran had already
sued all and sundry for making this allegation, though all the reports were
based on CBI's note to Raja. Obviously this note was generated when Maran
was at loggerheads with his grand uncle and party patriarch Karunanidhi.
Sibal is maintaining silence on this issue.
The question today is: will the Maran controversy ultimately touch the Prime
Minister?
