2G spectrum scam 1 2G spectrum scam The 2G spectrum scam in India involved the issue of 122 licenses[1] of the 2G spectrum to 85 companies[1] including many new telecom companies with little or no experience in the telecom sector at a price set in the year 2001. The scam involved allegations regarding • the under pricing of the 2G spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications which resulted in a heavy loss to the exchequer, and • the illegal manipulation of the spectrum allocation process to favour select companies The issue came to light after the auction of airwaves for 3G services which amounted to 67719 crore (US$15.03 billion) to the exchequer[2] . A report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on the money collected from 3G licenses estimated that the loss to the exchequer due to under pricing of the 2G spectrum was 176379 crore (US$39.16 billion)[3] . The scam came to public notice when the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record [With Case type:Writ Petition (Civil),Case No:10, Year:2011][4] . Civil Servants, Politicians and Corporations Involved in scam All the accused have been booked under sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 109 (abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence, and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Indian Penal Code.[5] Politicans, Ministers and Parlimentarians involved Name of the Occupation and Allegation and Chargess Person Designation involved Andimuthu Union Cabinet Minister The Controller and Auditor General holds Raja personally responsible for the sale of 2G spectrum at Raja for Communications and 2001 rates in 2008, resulting the previously mentioned loss of up to Rs. 1.76 lakh crores (US$40 [6] Information Technology billion) to the national exchequer. In August, 2010, evidence was submitted by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) showing that Raja had personally signed and approved the majority of the [7] questionable allocations. Kanimozhi Member of Rajya Sabha On April 25, 2011 Kanimozhi was named as a co-conspirator in the supplementary chargesheet filed Karunanidhi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 2G spectrum case. The chargesheet, which was submitted before the Supreme Court establishes how Rs 200 crore connected with the scam traveled from a partnership firm of businessman Shahid Balwa of Swan Telecom to the [5] Karunanidhi family-owned Kalaignar TV. She has been charged with section 7 and 11 of the [8] Prevention of Corruption Act. The sections deal with acceptance of alleged gratification. Bureaucrats involved 2G spectrum scam 2 Name of the Occupation Allegation and Charges Person and Designation involved Siddhartha Civil Servant He was the Telecom secretary who served in the DOT at the time of the 2G allocation. Behura (IAS officer of 1973 batch UP cadre) P. J. Thomas Civil Servant He was the Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications. On September 7, 2010 he was appointed as (IAS officer of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Thomas later stepped down after the Supreme Court questioned his track 1973 batch record as a civil servant in the wake of investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Kerala cadre). Pradip Baijal Civil Servant He is alleged to have recommended policies that favored certain Telecom companies when he was heading the [9] [10] (IAS officer of TRAI. Post retirement, Baijal joined Noesis, a consulting firm. Raja has made references to Baijal's 1966 batch MP decisions in 2003 as the basis for his decisions in 2008; something which has been attacked by Arun Shourie cadre). and several media pundits. The houses and offices of the bureaucrat were recently visited by the Central Bureau [11] of Investigation as part of their investigations. However, Baijal is expected to get a clean chit in this issue [12] R K Civil Servant He was private secretary of Raja during UPA-I when the licences were awarded. When Raja became the Chandolia (IES officer of Telecom Minister once again in UPA-II, Chandolia had been promoted to the Joint Secretary rank. Raja 1984 batch re-designated him Economic Adviser, that gave him the charge of all important policy-related work. Chandolia cadre). interacted with all the licensees. It is said that it was Chandolia who, from DDG-access services A K [13] Srivastava's room, had handed out letters of intent to representatives of various companies. Corporations involved • Allianz Infra[14] • Aircel • Dishnet Wireless • Loop Mobile • Sistema Shyam Mobile (MTS) – Sistema Mobile Russia • Reliance Communications • S Tel • Swan Telecom • Tata Tele Services • Unitech Group • Videocon Telecommunications Limited • Vodafone Essar • Virgin Mobile India 2G spectrum scam 3 Corporate personalities involved • Anil Ambani - Reliance Group (ADAG)[15] - • Ratan Tata • Shahid Balwa - DB Realty and Etisalat DB Telecom(formerly Swan Telecom) • Vinod Goenka - Dynamix Group • Venugopal Dhoot - Videocon Group • Prashant Ruia - Essar Group All of them have either been questioned by the CBI or are prospective suspects in the scam. Media persons and lobbyists involved • Nira Radia, a former airline entrepreneur turned corporate lobbyist whose conversations with politicians and corporate entities were recorded by the government authorities. The contents were later leaked by unknown parties creating the Nira Radia tapes controversy Petitioners to 2g scam • Subramaniam Swamy, activist lawyer and politician, whose letters to the Prime Minister demanding action and affidavits and cases in the Supreme Court brought the issue into the public limelight. • Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a journalist who was one among the very first to write on the irregularities in the awarding of 2G spectrum allocation by the Telecom Ministry. He is also one of the petitioners in the 2G PIL currently being heard in the Supreme court.[16] • Prashant Bhushan, on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation. • Anil Kumar, on behalf of the civil society organisationTelecom Watchdog • Others:Several eminent people like former chief election commissioners J.M. Lyngdoh, T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami and former central vigilance commissioner (CVC) P. Shankar are also petitioners in the suits filed by civil society groups.[14] Loss to Exchequer The Comptroller and Auditor General of India used three different methods to assess the presumptive loss to the exchequer resulting from not auctioning 2G spectrum.[17] The first method was based on the fact that S Tel, one of the licensees, explicitly offered to pay significantly higher license fees for the spectrum. Based on the fees offered by S Tel, the CAG estimated the loss to the exchequer at 67364 crore (US$14.95 billion) The second method was based on the price discovered by the 3G auction in 2010. The CAG reasoned that since 2G is really 2.75G (EDGE), its price should be comparable to that of 3G licenses. Based on this method, the CAG estimated the loss to the exchequer to be 176000 crore (US$39.07 billion) The third method was based on the fact that some of the licensees received FDI in the form of equity, shortly after the spectrum allocation. The CAG reasoned that this equity infusion was entirely due to the value of the allocated spectrum; this can be construed as re-sale of the spectrum by the licensee, and hence was a valid basis for assessing loss to the exchequer. Based on this method, the CAG estimated the loss to the exchequer to be anywhere between 57666 crore (US$12.8 billion) (based on Etisalat's investment in Swan Telecom) and 69626 crore (US$15.46 billion) (based on Telenor's investment in Unitech). For its part, the Congress-party led government has publicly defended itself on this count and Kapil Sibal, who replaced A. Raja as the communication minister, has refuted the CAG reasoning.[18] He has also justified his government's decision not to auction 2G spectrum as being in line with the policy guidelines laid down by the 10th Five-Year Plan.[19] [20] 2G spectrum scam 4 Relationship between media and government Media sources such as OPEN and Outlook reported that Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi knew that corporate lobbyist Nira Radia was influencing the decisions of A. Raja.[21] The critics alleged that Dutt and Sanghvi knew about corruption between the government and the media industry, supported this corrupt activity, and suppressed news reporting the discovery of the corruption.[21] Ratan Tata petitions over leak The tapes leaked to the public include conversations between Nira Radia and Ratan Tata. Tata petitioned the government to acknowledge his right to privacy and demanded accountability for the leak, with the Minister for Home Affairs, CBI, Indian Income Tax Department, the Department of Telecommunication, and the Department of Information Technology as respondents in the petition.[22] On April 4, 2011 Indian Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC)questioned Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia regarding their roles in 2G Scam.[23] Response to scam In early November 2010 Telecom Minister A Raja resigned. In mid November the comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon), and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that all of the 85 licenses granted to these companies did not have the up-front capital required at the time of the application and were in other ways illegal.[24] Some media sources have speculated that these companies will receive large fines but not have their licenses revoked, as they are currently providing some consumer service.[24] In response to the various allegations, the Govt of India has replaced the then incumbent Telecom minister, A.