Published: Friday, Jun 17, 2011, 1:45 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dayanidhi-maran-finds-a-friend-in-cbi_1555918
Textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran may be under extreme pressure to quit for allegedly forcing Shivashankaran to divest Aircel equity during his tenure in the telecom ministry.
Aircel had secured a telecom license but was forced to divest equity to the Malaysia-based Maxis group as Maran wouldn’t issue him the necessary permissions. Later, Maxis group invested Rs700 crores in Sun TV which is owned by the Maran family.
But the 45-page presentation made before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) recently on the 2G spectrum was virtually silent on Maran’s role in the scam.DNA has in its possession a copy of the CBI’s presentation made by CBI director A P Singh before the 30-member JPC headed by P C Chacko.
The 45-page presentation gave a graphic account of how Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) began suo moto investigations into the 2G scam in early 2009, how the policies were formulated by respective governments beginning 1994 when the telecom sector was liberalized, how the new telecom policy was announced in 1999, the role of various ministers who held the telecom portfolio and other aspects. It also dealt with the role of jailed telecom minister A Raja extensively and every player and various corporate houses who benefited from the scam.
Without naming Arun Shourie who held the telecom portfolio during 2003-04, the presentation clearly indicated that the policy was tweaked by the TRAI chairman who fixed the entry-fee for the 4th player in the Unified Access Service Licenses (UASL) at a price which was fixed in 2001.
But the CBI reduced the Maran era to just one page saying that the FDI limit in the telecom sector was enhanced from 49% to 74% and it was announced that new licences would be issued under the new policy.
The presentation made no comment on any wrongdoing by the minister or any of the officials in the ministry from 1994 to 2010 period.
The only place Aircel found mention was on page 44 wherein CBI said that it has registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) which would deal with four issues namely…
“Issue1 : New UAS Licenses in 2003-04 on the basis of clarification dated 14.11.2003 of chairman TRAI on the basis of First-Come First Policy (read Arun Shourie here),
Issue 2: Continuing grant of new UAS licences on first-com-first-served basis at 2001 prices during the years 2004 to 2007 (including the allegations in Aircel-Maxis deal)
Issue 3: Allocation of spectrum beyond contracted quantity of 6.2 MHz on subscribers linked criteria since the decision dated 01.02.2002 (read Late Pramod Mahajan here)
Issue 4: Any other issue found relevant including those reported in One Man Committee’s report dated 31.01.2011.”
A senior member of the JPC disclosed that the CBI director was closely questioned on the casual manner in which Aircel had been mentioned in the presentation.
The JPC would press for a detailed report in this regard when it meets in the first week of July, these sources said.
Sources in the CBI maintained that only a PE has been registered on Aircel and a detailed note would be sent to the JPC soon.
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dayanidhi-maran-finds-a-friend-in-cbi_1555918
Textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran may be under extreme pressure to quit for allegedly forcing Shivashankaran to divest Aircel equity during his tenure in the telecom ministry.
Aircel had secured a telecom license but was forced to divest equity to the Malaysia-based Maxis group as Maran wouldn’t issue him the necessary permissions. Later, Maxis group invested Rs700 crores in Sun TV which is owned by the Maran family.
But the 45-page presentation made before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) recently on the 2G spectrum was virtually silent on Maran’s role in the scam.DNA has in its possession a copy of the CBI’s presentation made by CBI director A P Singh before the 30-member JPC headed by P C Chacko.
The 45-page presentation gave a graphic account of how Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) began suo moto investigations into the 2G scam in early 2009, how the policies were formulated by respective governments beginning 1994 when the telecom sector was liberalized, how the new telecom policy was announced in 1999, the role of various ministers who held the telecom portfolio and other aspects. It also dealt with the role of jailed telecom minister A Raja extensively and every player and various corporate houses who benefited from the scam.
Without naming Arun Shourie who held the telecom portfolio during 2003-04, the presentation clearly indicated that the policy was tweaked by the TRAI chairman who fixed the entry-fee for the 4th player in the Unified Access Service Licenses (UASL) at a price which was fixed in 2001.
But the CBI reduced the Maran era to just one page saying that the FDI limit in the telecom sector was enhanced from 49% to 74% and it was announced that new licences would be issued under the new policy.
The presentation made no comment on any wrongdoing by the minister or any of the officials in the ministry from 1994 to 2010 period.
The only place Aircel found mention was on page 44 wherein CBI said that it has registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) which would deal with four issues namely…
“Issue1 : New UAS Licenses in 2003-04 on the basis of clarification dated 14.11.2003 of chairman TRAI on the basis of First-Come First Policy (read Arun Shourie here),
Issue 2: Continuing grant of new UAS licences on first-com-first-served basis at 2001 prices during the years 2004 to 2007 (including the allegations in Aircel-Maxis deal)
Issue 3: Allocation of spectrum beyond contracted quantity of 6.2 MHz on subscribers linked criteria since the decision dated 01.02.2002 (read Late Pramod Mahajan here)
Issue 4: Any other issue found relevant including those reported in One Man Committee’s report dated 31.01.2011.”
A senior member of the JPC disclosed that the CBI director was closely questioned on the casual manner in which Aircel had been mentioned in the presentation.
The JPC would press for a detailed report in this regard when it meets in the first week of July, these sources said.
Sources in the CBI maintained that only a PE has been registered on Aircel and a detailed note would be sent to the JPC soon.
