2G: A Raja went to jail for larger good

New Delhi: Former telecom minister A Raja has said that institutions in India continue to work at cross purposes, resulting in the existence of damaging differences, which in turn, are fuelled by cartels and magnified by the media.

In an interview given to a magazine, which will be published later this month, Raja also said that he saw his going to jail for the alleged 2G scam as a sacrifice of his personal liberty to ensure greater good for the public at large.

"I have to state with regret, that our institutions are working at cross-purposes. Earlier, when I spoke to a newspaper, I said it's (2G scam) an institutional aberration and it has to be resolved. My feelings remain the same. The entire 2G case rests upon the institutional difference between CAG, CVC, Planning Commission, the Union Cabinet, the Telecom Commission, the TRAI and others. These differences are fuelled by cartels and magnified by the media, and therefore, will not stand before the Rule of Law," he said.

"As far as my personal liberty goes, I see it as the price I paid for the revolution which brought down the ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) from '350 to '100 per month and boosted telephone connections from 300 million to 800 million within a couple of years. But when I personally advanced my arguments before the trial court, I challenged the CBI to get the statement of the PM, the FM and the law minister to corroborate their chargesheet, where it has been mentioned that the advice of all three was ignored. They did not do that. The silence maintained by them backfired on them individually and institutionally," he added.

Admitting candidly that his family had been affected by his going to jail for 15 months, a stoic Raja said, "I have been brought up within the Dravidian culture, where we are taught to face hurdles and fight back. My family was really affected. I told them that it will take time to prove that it is a bogus case and that it won't stand scrutiny in a court of law."

"Institutions are more important than individuals. However, I have grievances about the manner in which the CBI/CAG carried out investigations. Simply put, investigations in the 2G case were done in a hasty and arbitrary manner, without fully scrutinising relevant documents and without weighing the legacy of the issue," he told the magazine.

Today, he maintains that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and his office were legally illiterate and had acted with malice towards him with regard to nailing him for a perceived notional exchequer loss of 1.76 lakh crores.

"Documents now coming in the public domain establish that CAG's action seemed motivated by extraneous consideration. Now, it has also been proved that Mr Vinod Rai was rewarded by the present government by accommodating him as an advisor in the Railway Ministry," said Raja.

He also said that the judgement of the Supreme Court to cancel telecom licences issued during his tenure was a violation of natural justice as he was not heard before being condemned.

Today, he also feels that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was completely misguided about the issue, and that she had in an indirect sort of way commiserated with him after his release from jail.

"I am pleading for righteousness and justice. My simple and honest question to the intellectual class of this country, which consists of lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, media persons and others, is: Is it not an unfair, dubious and deliberate attempt to misguide the country by still relying on the Rs 1.76 crore figure of exchequer loss when the figure of CAG has been discarded by both the CBI for investigation and by the Court for framing of the charge?”

“Is it not a fit case to probe the veracity of the CAG report and personal integrity of CAG when its report is not endorsed by PAC, and there were internal disputes in CAG about the arrival of the figure?”

“Despite CBI raids on all my family members and friends in more than 10 places, and enquiries by the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department, has any ill-gotten wealth been found with me?”

“I started the telecom revolution and for that, got branded as a criminal. To my knowledge, this is the first time in judicial history that the CAG report was taken into criminal investigation, when otherwise it is meant only for parliament. Having taken the CAG report as prima facie evidence, I wanted to call the CAG into the witness box. However, for reasons best known to the CBI, the investigating officer deposed that the CBI did not rely upon the CAG report for its investigation. It may not be fair to refer to the proceedings or the deposition made in the trial court when the case is pending. Yet, it has been my stand from day one, that I have been charged for `murder` but the person who was allegedly murdered by me is still alive.”

He said that currently he was busy with his trial, and said that his book would detail his "honest efforts in the telecom sector and the dubious attitude of various individuals and institutions would be correctly exposed."