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Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Friday told a special CBI court that his role and Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s role in the alleged 2G scam were identical. While opposing CBI’s plea of seeking framing of a charge for criminal breach of trust in the 2G spectrum allocation case against 17 accused, Raja said that it was an attempt to keep him in jail.
Terming CBI’s application as ‘malafide’, senior advocate Sushil Kumar appearing for Raja said that Raja did not commit any offence and it was filed at a ‘belated’ stage as the provision provides for life imprisonment. Kumar said the roles of Raja and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were identical in the case.
“I am not saying P Chidambaram is guilty. Both of us are innocent. Whole country is saying he (Chidambaram) is innocent then how I can I be held guilty. The documents are self explanatory. All the decisions were taken in public interest and something has gone wrong somewhere and then they (CBI) needed a scapegoat and made him (Raja) an accused,” Kumar said.
Kumar said, “Though I (Raja) have not applied for bail as yet but the fresh charge reduces the chances of bail for those who have moved for it as the penal provision carries life imprisonment, if convicted,” he said. Initially, the accused were charged under provisions, which entailed seven years jail as maximum sentence. However, special prosecutor UU Lalit vehemently argued for framing of additional charges against the accused saying that as a Minister, Raja dealt with natural resources and distributed the spectrum licenses in ‘arbitrary and capricious’ manner.
Citing various judgments, Lalit said that it was the duty of the Government to preserve natural resources as the custodian of the public property as the ‘Public Trust doctrine’ is not confined to environmental issues. “A Minister, who is the executive head of the department, holds a trust on behalf of the people. He has to deal with the people’s property in a fair and just manner and he cannot breach the trust reposed on him by the people,” he said.
Except Raja, other 16 accused including top honchos of three companies, Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom and Unitech, filed their responses to the CBI application for invoking section 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC against them.
Meanwhile, Raja was denied permission by the court to assist his lawyers in the Supreme Court in the course of hearings in the 2G spectrum allocation scam on grounds that enough time for legal consultations had already been given to him. The court also cautioned Raja from making remarks against the Supreme Court alleging that the apex court’s monitoring of the probe was causing prejudice to his case. “I do not find any merit in the application and the same is dismissed,” the court said and gave three reasons for not allowing the plea of the DMK leader.
The court, in its 5-page order, said it did not receive any ‘requisition’ from the Supreme Court that Raja be produced before it and moreover, all 14 accused were being allowed legal consultations with their lawyers. The accused had no right to be heard when the matter was still ‘pending investigation’, it said adding the plea of Raja that he was unable to brief his counsel was untenable.
Earlier, Raja had moved the plea seeking permission to attend proceedings in the Supreme Court on October 10 “to place submission through the counsel to elucidate correct facts to explain sequence of events which happened in 2007-2008 in a better manner.
Terming CBI’s application as ‘malafide’, senior advocate Sushil Kumar appearing for Raja said that Raja did not commit any offence and it was filed at a ‘belated’ stage as the provision provides for life imprisonment. Kumar said the roles of Raja and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were identical in the case.
“I am not saying P Chidambaram is guilty. Both of us are innocent. Whole country is saying he (Chidambaram) is innocent then how I can I be held guilty. The documents are self explanatory. All the decisions were taken in public interest and something has gone wrong somewhere and then they (CBI) needed a scapegoat and made him (Raja) an accused,” Kumar said.
Kumar said, “Though I (Raja) have not applied for bail as yet but the fresh charge reduces the chances of bail for those who have moved for it as the penal provision carries life imprisonment, if convicted,” he said. Initially, the accused were charged under provisions, which entailed seven years jail as maximum sentence. However, special prosecutor UU Lalit vehemently argued for framing of additional charges against the accused saying that as a Minister, Raja dealt with natural resources and distributed the spectrum licenses in ‘arbitrary and capricious’ manner.
Citing various judgments, Lalit said that it was the duty of the Government to preserve natural resources as the custodian of the public property as the ‘Public Trust doctrine’ is not confined to environmental issues. “A Minister, who is the executive head of the department, holds a trust on behalf of the people. He has to deal with the people’s property in a fair and just manner and he cannot breach the trust reposed on him by the people,” he said.
Except Raja, other 16 accused including top honchos of three companies, Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom and Unitech, filed their responses to the CBI application for invoking section 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC against them.
Meanwhile, Raja was denied permission by the court to assist his lawyers in the Supreme Court in the course of hearings in the 2G spectrum allocation scam on grounds that enough time for legal consultations had already been given to him. The court also cautioned Raja from making remarks against the Supreme Court alleging that the apex court’s monitoring of the probe was causing prejudice to his case. “I do not find any merit in the application and the same is dismissed,” the court said and gave three reasons for not allowing the plea of the DMK leader.
The court, in its 5-page order, said it did not receive any ‘requisition’ from the Supreme Court that Raja be produced before it and moreover, all 14 accused were being allowed legal consultations with their lawyers. The accused had no right to be heard when the matter was still ‘pending investigation’, it said adding the plea of Raja that he was unable to brief his counsel was untenable.
Earlier, Raja had moved the plea seeking permission to attend proceedings in the Supreme Court on October 10 “to place submission through the counsel to elucidate correct facts to explain sequence of events which happened in 2007-2008 in a better manner.
