Battles won, but the WAR is not over

At last fraud 122 telecom licenses granted by former tainted Telecom A.Raja is cancelled by Supreme Court. The Congress and UPA Government have not yet learned lessons. That is why they filed review petition without any remorse. The motive of the review petition simply exposes that A.Raja is not the lone beneficiary of the 2G Scandal. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have not yet learned lessons from UP poll results.

Congress party even failed to make advantage from Punjab and Uttarakhand, where Akali Dal and BJP were facing severe anti-incumbency, allegations of corruption and headaches from dissidents. Such was the Tsunami waves lashed nationwide by the agitations of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev against the corruption in Central Government after CAG and Supreme Court took stern steps on 2G Scandal in the last months of 2010.

But the arrogant Congress leadership thought they can manage pubic mandate by fooling Muslim voters. The things became worse, when the Government and party leadership run by corporate advocates turned ministers.

Ideally advocates should advice the clients on right things. Unfortunately they tried to appease the clients by tendering illegal advices and try to become the protectors of crime. Now in the legal world, for minting money none enlightens the client. The 2G cases are open and shut ones. But for minting money the advocates engaged by accused give wrong advices. Similar is the case of corporate advocates turned ministers in the central government. Mom and Son likes this kind of characters and electoral drubbings continues to happen and will happen in future also.

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi still keeping mum on 2G Spectrum Scandal. So naturally people will have tendency to believe the non-countered allegations. One thing sure this humongous scandal is not Raja’s lone operation. They should explain or counter. But the review petitions against cancellation of 122 licenses strengthen the allegations against them. If this is the case one day the 2G ghost would reach their door step.

Some corporate cheer leaders and fraud legal eagles consoles, if review petition fails, Government would go for Presidential intervention like in the case of presidential pardon to Nixon in Watergate scandal by his successor Gerald Ford in 1974. Hearing this dirty decision reporter Bob Woodward was awakened by his colleague Carl Bernstein over phone: “…the son of a bitch pardoned the son of a bitch.”

Any way Indian laws are different from US and people have empowered a lot. None of the people in power dare to do such things now, especially after the gory images on the end of Libyan dictator Gaddafi.

Home Minister P.Chidambaram too keeps mum and never comes out open to defend. During his tenure as Finance Minister 2G Scam happened. As a custodian of public exchequer he should have intervened to stop the scam. Those days he was giving rejoinders to each and every news item on other subjects. But in spectrum allocation he kept quiet. Is it just due to compulsions of coalition politics syndrome as excused by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?

The fact was Chidambaram overruled the Finance Ministry officials who objected Raja’s designs. Otherwise the2009 Lok Sabha election result of Sivaganga constituency would have been different.

One good thing in the Special CBI Court Judge OP Saini’s order is - it says Chidambaram consented with Raja in spectrum allocation at seven year old damn cheap prices and share offloading of tainted companies to Multi Nationals at whopping rates. It is not the job of Dr.Swamy to find the money trail or conspiracy angle on Chidambaram. It is the job of investigators. But in India, the investigators should be empowered by courts to act boldly.

Unfortunately, even during Supreme Court monitored probe, DMK's Ministers like SS Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance tries to do dirty tricks. My information is he is directing Income Tax officials to issue notices to relatives of key witnesses in the 2G trial in order to arm-twist the witnesses for changing their deposition against his party colleagues Raja and Kanimozhi. For the past eight years this key portfolio (read money minting), which controls Income Tax, Customs and Excise is under DMK.

Any way Subramanian Swamy and Prashant Bhushan have taken the matter to Supreme Court. I wish them all success and expect more exposes. I wish all success to anti-corruption crusaders. My heart is with them - Only with real crusaders, not with Ram Jethmalani kind of characters who talks against corruption and at last appears in court for corrupt people. I really doubt his so called fight against black money.

Raja is spending his second summer in Tihar jail. Hope more people to come in future. Obviously fraud advocates will be the ultimate beneficiaries of each scam. India’s Advocates Act, need to be thoroughly amended to fix these frauds. The corporate cheerleaders try to ignore the merits of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly on cancelling the tainted licenses which open the doors for auction to fill our cash strapped public exchequer. More over the order automatically confiscated around Rs.14,000 crores, the amount dubiously remitted by these fraud licenses. Unfortunately some people in media want to highlight the agony of the corporate due to this boldest order. None is learning lessons even after the leakage of Nira Radia tapes.

Kapil Sibal’s Zero Loss theory started making Zero Gains for Congress in elections. Salman Khurshid’s crocodile tears for Muslims kicked his wife to fifth position in the assembly elections. Muslims in UP wanted a Musalman leader, but Congress leadership gave them Salman. More is waiting for him for manipulating and giving clean chits to Reliance-Swan and Essar-Loop deals, just before CBI filing chargesheets on these companies. Everybody’s number will come one by one.

Any way Battles won, but the WAR against corruption is still ON.

The Pioneer’s 2G scam whistleblower bags Goenka Award

The Pioneer News Service
New Delhi January 17, 2012

The Pioneer’s special correspondent J Gopikrishnan won yet another laurel when he received the Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year Award in print category here on Monday. CNBC managing editor Udayan Mukherjee was adjudged best journalist of the year in broadcast category . Both of these prestigious awards were for the year 2009.
The two awards, introduced by The Indian Express Group in 2006, carried a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh each. The awards were bestowed by Vice-President Hamid Ansari. The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta presided over the well-attended function at Taj Hotel here. Thirty nine other winners in 17 other categories received a prize of Rs.One lakh each.

Popular as Gopi among his colleagues, Gopikrishnan had also won the last year’s CNN-IBN special achievement award and several other felicitations for his remarkable series of stories on the 2G spectrum scam, which shook the UPA Government and led to the arrest of several political biggies and bureaucrats. Dedicating his award to The Pioneer, his colleagues, and Editor-in-Chief Chandan Mitra, Gopi said, “I wanted to name several other people who helped in my pursuit, but since the trial is on, I could not reveal their identities.”

Congratulating Gopi, Chandan Mitra said he rarely met a journalist who achieved so much and yet remained so humble. “He has put on no airs despite the accolades he has received and the many awards he has won. He remains committed to his profession, and profession alone,” Mitra said, adding, “The Pioneer is proud to have such a journalist in our team.”

Gopi first brought the nation’s attention to the massive irregularities in the award of spectrum in early 2008 when a few had heard of the well-crafted conspiracy to plunder the nation’s resources and shortchange the exchequer to tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore by an unholy nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and corporates. Unmindful of the fact that a few newspapers or TV channels cared to follow up his stories, Gopi persisted with his hard work. While he focuses on specifics, he always came out with additional materials to spice up his stories.

In a scam of this magnitude many of the juicy side stories that he shared in the news room could not be published for want of evidence, but they showed his remarkable grasp of the subject and the vast network of his contacts. From personal life of the accused persons to their professional indiscretions, Gopi knew it all. His approach was so professional and meticulous that a few could ever contradict his stories - or accuse him of bias.

Needless to say that in the scam of this proportion, he faced pulls and pressure from different quarters, which he withstood like a true professional, never blinking, never compromising. For someone who started his foray in Delhi journalism four years ago as a little known Kerala stringer, Gopi’s career is not limited to exposing the 2G scam. Consistency has been the hallmark of Gopi, who has regularly come out with front page stories on a diverse range of issues.

The high-point of his 2G scam reporting was the expose of Nira Radia tape that created a sensation and forced the media to take note of the scam. When the CAG report on 2G scam, endorsed nearly every aspect of the scandal so vividly captured by Gopi in his write-ups, the political establishment was forced to act. The then Telecom Minister A Raja had to be ousted from the Union Cabinet, and the Centre had to order CBI probe in the scam.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-President Ansari said that in a changed and changing world, it would be useful to remember that vibrant journalism in a democracy is watchdog journalism. “It monitors the exercise of power and influence in society and stands for the rights and freedoms of citizens. It informs and empowers citizens rather than entertains and titillates them,” he said.

He added, “Our media, and democracy, are fortunate that we have shining examples of journalists who not only embody the ethical dimension, but sadly, also laid down their life for the same.”

The Year 2011, the finest year of fights against corruption

The year 2011 can be remembered as the year of uprising against corruption in India. The year started with nationwide raids of CBI on 2G Spectrum Scam and the arrest of tainted former telecom minister A.Raja, leading to the arrest of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, when caught up with crystal clear evidence. Unprecedented things like the subsequent arrests and chargesheeting of corporate honchos, though some escaped boosted the morale of common man to rally against the corruption.

2011 summer was real hot summer for the Government and the Rulers, when Anna Hazare kick-started his strikes from April. Raja, Kanimozhi, CWG’s selectively caught scamster Suresh Kalmadi and corporates must had thought of non-validity of money at least once in their life, when hearing the protest of masses assembled in front of Tihar jail, demanding the release of Anna Hazare in August. Atleast for politicians it was a surprise on the assembling large gathering, without spending single paisa for such kind of crowd flow.

The year 2011 also saw the collapse of mining barons Bellary brothers, after the Lok Ayukta Santosh Hegde cracked the whip. Ofcourse there are still some persons waiting in the league to rally to jails. The credit goes to the Judiciary for getting up from its more than five year long hibernation and the persons who tirelessly fought against corruption in the streets as well as in courts.

However, we should not forget the existence of some mighty forces, which protect the corrupt people and collapse the probe and cases against corruption. Remember the CBI’s U-turn in the Special Court by not opposing the bail of Kanimozhi, just 48 hours after her father M Karunanidhi met Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Shockingly CBI was forced to change its stand, even after it pledged in the Supreme Court that they will oppose the bail plea of all the accused in the Spectrum Scam.

In CWG investigation, CBI action was similar to the surgical strike of a commando opeartion by fixing only Suresh Kalmadi, who had only dealt with around five percent of the expenditure on the administration and execution of the games. The saved persons can breathe till none crusades like what Subramanian Swamy or Prashant Bhushan did to expose the spectrum scam. Same is the case of KG Basin scandal, where Mukesh Ambani minted money. Somehow his brother Anil Ambani saved though his top officials caught in 2G scam. I defer from CBI findings on this issue like Chidambaram’s involvement or reasons behind the silence in spectrum allocation.

The year 2011 also witnessed the dirty tricks from government side against crusaders, especially belong to Team Anna with help of certain media. CDs were created to defame people, hit squads were bought in. Look at the way Delhi Police being demonised to deal Baba Ramdev.

In India the law enforcement is still in nascent stages, when compared to civilised countries. Here the Law acts person to person and case to case basis. No media persons involved in the Nira Radia were questioned any agency or any forum. There was a hue and cry from certain quarters when Public Accounts Committee made an attempt to call media persons like Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi on Radia gate. I envy on the courage of British Parliament panel which summoned the mighty media mogul Rupert Murdoch and brought to books. When will our Parliament and Parliamentarians get such courage?

Certain politicians only make false claim that “Parliament is supreme” and force us to believe so, though the fact of the matter is – We the people made Constitution is supreme. Battles have won. But the war is still on. Let us expect more victories in 2012.

Chidambaram in 2G radar

The Pioneer's series of reports on Home Minister P.Chidambaram's role in 2G Scam in September, 2011

CBI changing probe line to save PC ?
Sep 19, 2011

It seems to be a case of applying two yardsticks for two former Finance Ministers. The CBI, which has announced the need for questioning Jaswant Singh — the Finance Minister during the NDA regime — has apparently given a clean chit to P Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister when the 2G spectrum scam occurred.

The investigating agency has admitted to lapses by the Finance Ministry under Chidambaram in 2G spectrum allocation and pricing but has asserted there’s “no criminal misconduct”. The agency has squarely blamed former Telecom Minister A Raja for the entire scam.

“Investigation in the matter so far has not disclosed criminal misconduct on the part of any public servant of the Ministry of Finance,” summed up CBI joint director Hitesh C Awasthy in his two-page response to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.

Chidambaram’s lawyer PP Rao had insisted before the Supreme Court that the CBI’s letter should be produced. The matter will come up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, when it will consider Swamy’s petition seeking a CBI probe into Chidambaram’s role.

Swamy has in his petition alleged that Chidambaram “colluded with Raja” in fixing the spectrum pricing at lower level. It was after the Prime Minister rejected his petition to grant sanction for prosecution and the CBI turned down his petition that Swamy approached Supreme Court.

Objecting to Swamy’s arguments against Chidambaram on September 8 in the Supreme Court, the Government hired private lawyer Rao, who pressed for the production of these observations by the CBI.

Explaining the lapses of the Finance Ministry, the CBI said, “The Secretary, Finance (D Subbarao) took up this issue (spectrum pricing) with the Secretary, Department of Telecom and stressed the need to include spectrum pricing in the terms of teference of the GoM. This matter was again taken up by Secretary of Finance with Secretary, DoT, on November 22, 2007.”

It added, “However, DoT had by that time issued in-principle approval to three firms (Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Shyam Telelink) for dual technology spectrum at prices determined in 2001. The Secretary, Finance, asked DoT to stay further implementation of the matter till the Ministry of Finance was consulted and a decision taken. The matter was taken up by Ministry of Finance with DoT on further occasions as well.”

Putting the entire blame on Raja, the CBI noted, “On January 10, 2008, DoT allocated 120 new licences at 2001 prices. Investigations has revealed that A Raja deliberately ignored advice of the Finance Ministry and other high offices for revision of entry fee or auction of spectrum, etc.”
Swamy challenged the rationale of the CBI in adopting different yardsticks in declaring to question Jaswant Singh and avoiding questioning of Chidambaram.

While telling the Supreme Court how far the probe had progressed, the CBI recently said that during the NDA regime, spectrum pricing was fixed by the GoM headed by the then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and that it needed to question him for arriving at a final conclusion. But in case of Chidambaram, Finance Minister during the tenure of Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and Raja, the CBI took a different yardstick.
As things stand, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has had on different occasions, including in Parliament, said, “Though there were difference of opinion between the two ministers (Chidambaram and Raja) in the initial stage, later they were on the same page.” He even cited the meetings between the duo on the spectrum pricing. However, the Finance Ministry, now says, no minutes were prepared on the said meetings between Raja and Chidambaram.

Swamy in his petition also alleged that the controversial company Telenor, which is also operating in Pakistan and Bangladesh, got clearance from the Home Ministry, when Chidambaram assumed office. Demanding the intervention of the Supreme Court, he accused the CBI of going soft on Chidambaram, who cleared the sale of shares of the major scam beneficiaries Swan and Unitech to multinational companies at a whopping price.

Govt lied on PC-Raja meet
Sep 19, 2011

The Government’s claim that minutes of the meeting between former Telecom Minister A Raja and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram on January 30, 2008 were not maintained has turned out to be totally misleading.

Documents in possession of The Pioneer show that the minutes of the meeting were prepared and signed by none other than then Finance Secretary D Subbarao. The meeting, which took place 20 days after the controversial allotment of spectrum by Raja, reveals that Chidambaram said that there was no need to “revisit” the mode adopted by Raja for spectrum allotment.

“FM (Finance Minister) said that for now we are not seeking to revisit the current regimes for entry fee or revenue share,” said point No: 5 of the ‘hushed up’ minutes of the meeting between Raja and Chidambaram. This observation of Chidambaram clearly shows that he had overruled the then Finance Secretary who had issued directions to stay the allotment of telecom licences and spectrum at the entry fee of Rs 1,658 crore, a price fixed seven years ago. The Finance Secretary had directed the stay on the spectrum allocation on November 22, 2007.

Incidentally, on January 15, 2008 Chidambaram wrote to PM Manmohan Singh to treat Raja’s dubious spectrum allotment as a “closed chapter”. On several occasions and even in Parliament, the Prime Minister said that “there were initial differences between two Ministers” (Telecom and Finance) on the spectrum pricing, and “later they were on the same page.”

Singh even disclosed the dates of the meeting between Raja and Chidambaram, but Government managers, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister PK Bansal, said there were no minutes of the meeting. The Government also justified the non-preparation of the minutes, saying that it was not always possible for the Finance Minister to record what transpired with other Ministers.

The then Telecom Secretary, Siddharth Behura, currently in jail along with Raja, and Advisor (Wireless) PK Garg, who is a prosecution witness in the CBI case, were also present in the meeting.

As per the minutes, following are the gist of the discussion — the FM suggested that keeping in view of lessons of experience, allotment of licences and allocation of spectrum must be based on solid legal grounds.

It was agreed that the optimum number of operators per circle would be about seven.
It was noted that there is a mismatch in the demand and supply of spectrum across circles. Redressing this mismatch will be another policy imperative, said the details of the minutes of the meeting which took place after 20 days after the scam.

The meeting also discussed the changing of merger and acquisition rules in the telecom sector. “We also need to check the current rules and regulations governing withdrawal of spectrum in the event of: a) not rolling over, b) merger and acquisition, and c) trading away spectrum,” said the last point of discussion between Raja and Chidambaram.

Incidentally, after three months of this meeting, on April 2008, Raja dubiously issued an order changing the merger and acquisition rules, diluting the existing lock in period condition of three years. This new order facilitated the windfall gain to Swan and Unitech, who offloaded their shares to multinational telecom companies Etisalat and Telenor.

The minutes also disclose that Telecom Secretary would attend a meeting with Finance Ministry officials, scheduled for next day --- January 31, 2008.

The ‘hushed up’ minutes between Raja and Chidambaram showed that the jailed former Telecom Minister had discussed the matter in details with his counter part in the Finance Ministry.
According to the October 2003, Cabinet decision, the Finance Ministry is the ultimate authority in the spectrum pricing. But when controversies raged, Chidambaram always claimed that he argued for auction. The minutes exposes his claim.

On deposing before the Public Accounts Committee, the then Finance Secretary Subbarao said that he had informed Chidambaram, before issuing directive to stay the spectrum allocation. The minutes of the meeting between Raja and Chidambaram shows that Finance Secretary’s objections were overruled by Chidambaram. Perhaps that is why the Government always claimed no minutes was prepared at all.


Pranab points to PC taint

Sept 22, 2011

FinMin blames Chidambaram for failure to stop Raja move. The noose tightened around Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday after the Finance Ministry submitted a memorandum, approved by Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to the Prime Minister’s Office, detailing the dereliction of duties and failures on the part of the then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, in 2008 in stopping the controversial allocation of 2G spectrum by then Telecom Minister A Raja.

The note endorsed by Mukherjee is a detailed analysis of Finance Ministry’s role in spectrum pricing from 2003 to 2008. While it puts Chidambaram in the dock for failing to check Raja’s misdeeds, it also blames the Telecom Ministry for not cancelling the controversial licences. The note also brings to the fore the ongoing war between two heavyweights in the UPA Cabinet.

The 13-page note of the Finance Ministry was presented to th eSupreme Court on Wednesday by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy during his argument seeking directions to the CBI to probe Chidambaram’s role in the 2G scam. This note was prepared by the Finance Ministry on March 25, 2011 to appraise the Prime Minister on the scam after the formulation of the Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G scam.
The Finance Ministry note shows that Chidambaram was aware of Raja’s ‘plan’ when his (Chidambaram’s) officials alerted him on January 9, 2008, just a day before the controversial allotment of licences and spectrum.

It also blames the Finance Ministry, then under Chidambaram, for keeping silent even after the DoT on November 29, 2007 had opposed the directive of Finance Secretary D Subbarao on November 22, 2007 to stay the award of licences to Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communication.

The note approved by Pranab Mukherjee also exposes the DoT lies, which claimed that the allotments were made in accordance with a 2003 Cabinet approval. Outlining the lapses of the Finance Ministry, and non-implementation of the stay order of Finance Secretary, the note said: “In response, DoT vide their letter dated November 29, 2007 indicated that the decision to allot the dual technology licences at the 2001 entry fee was justified on account of the decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting held on October 31, 2003 and TRAI recommendations of August 28, 2007.”

Puncturing the DoT’s claims, the note says the Finance Ministry was not consulted before giving the dual technology licences to Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices. Moreover, the TRAI recommendations for giving licence to Reliance Comm and Tata Tele were not valid as it was not debated in the Full Telecom Commission, where Finance Ministry representatives are also a member.

Blaming Finance Ministry for not acting on the misleading DoT’s reply on the Finance Secretary’s stay order, the note said: “This was also not further responded to by DEA (Department of Economic Affairs). No follow up appears to have been done from DEA.”

Blaming the Finance Ministry under Chidambaram for inaction the note said the Ministry swung into action only on December 17 and the file reached before Chidambaram on January 9, 2009. Suspecting some foul play, the note says that the representative of the Finance Ministry never raised the issue of revising the seven-year old rate of entry fee in the Full Telecom Commission meeting, though the officials placed this demand before Chidambaram.

“The note recommended both revision of the entry fee fixed in 2003 as well as adoption of an auction methodology for determination of the spectrum usage charges. The position paper was prefaced with a note of the then AS (EA) [Additional Secretary - Economic Affairs] dated January 9, 2008, which inter alia mentioned that she had been directed to attend the meeting of the Full Telecom Commission, which had been scheduled to be held on January 9,” said the note.

Bringing Chidambaram under scanner for writing to Prime Minister to “treat the matter the spectrum allotment as a closed chapter”, the note says: “This position paper was used by the then FM (Chidambaram) as a basis of his ‘secret note’ to the Prime Minister on January 15, 2008 wherein, an auction based mechanism was recommended for future allocation of spectrum (beyond the start up spectrum), with the spectrum allocations having been made in the past to be treated as a closed chapter. The recommendation was in the context of spectrum usage charges and not with regard to the entry fee.”

The Finance Ministry’s note exposes that Chidambaram’s claims on arguing for auction was wrong. It further says that, in fact Chidambaram argued for auction almost a year after, that too after the controversial sale of Swan and Unitech to multinational companies Etisalat and Telenor at a whopping prices. “The note of the Finance Minister did not deal with the need, if any, to revise entry fee was taken up by the Ministry of Finance subsequently in November 11, 2008,” it said.
Clearly expressing dissatisfaction on Chidambaram’s observation to treat the matter as “closed chapter”, the memorandum to Prime Minister, approved by Mukherjee, argues that still the tainted licences can be cancelled and there would be no legal problem.

Clearly, the Finance minister is critical of Telecom Ministry’s inaction on taking action against the beneficiaries telecom companies even after CAG found the illegality of Raja’s 122 licences.
“There was a way out by invoking clause 5.1 of the UAS Licenses (Telecom Licenses), which inter alia, provide for modification at any time the terms and conditions of the license, if in the opinion of the Licensor (DoT) it is necessary or expedient to do so in public interest or in the interest of the security of state or for the proper conduct of the telegraphs. DoT could have invoked this clause for cancelling licenses in case Ministry of Finance had stuck to the stand of auctioning the spectrum,” said the Finance Ministry note.


Subbarao kept PC in loop
Sept 24, 2011

Several consultations with then FM on 2G, former Finance Secretary told PAC The UPA Government and the Congress may be defending Home Minister P Chidambaram against charges of complicity in the 2G scam, but former Finance Secretary D Subbarao’s deposition before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on February 3, 2011, clearly shows that he had “fairly and regularly” appraised the then Finance Minister about former Telecom Minister A Raja’s move to allot spectrum at seven-year-old price without auction.

Details available with The Pioneer show that on being grilled by the MPs on his communication and meeting with Chidambaram during the scam period, Subbarao told the PAC: “There were several consultations with the Finance Minister (Chidambaram) at several stages. So, I cannot recall exactly whether this particular letter (November 29, 2007 from DoT) was discussed on a stand-alone basis or together with other developments in the telecom sector, but I do recall that in that period (October 2007 onwards), I was discussing with the Finance Minister, fairly regularly on telecom sector issues.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday to thrash out the issues related to Ministry note on Chidambaram’s role in 2G spectrum allocation. In order to accommodate his unscheduled meeting with the PM, Mukherjee’s departure from Washington has been advanced by a few hours. Now he is expected to leave Washington early Sunday morning instead of afternoon.

Subbarao was responding to the volley of questions from several members of the PAC, on how his directive of November 22, 2007 — to stay the allotment of spectrum and GSM licences to Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices at 2001 price — was not adhered to. The directive had also sought to find new market-based price for spectrum, and suggested auction. But on November 29, 2007, DoT wrote to Subbarao that they were going by the 2003 Cabinet approval for the spectrum allotment policy. After the DoT reply, the Finance Ministry kept quiet.

To the questions, whether he had consulted Chidambaram, the former Finance Secretary, who is currently the Reserve Bank Governor, reiterated: “On this letter of November 29 from the Telecom Secretary, I cannot specifically say that I had taken this particular letter to the FM, but I certainly was discussing with him on a regular basis.”

The recent note by the Finance Ministry to the PMO, and minutes of Raja and Chidambaram’s meeting, clearly show how Subbarao was overruled by Chidambaram to favour Raja’s controversial 2G spectrum allotment. These documents also substantiate Subbarao’s deposition before the PAC that Chidambaram was in the loop.

When Subbarao was pressed by MPs, to provide evidence about his communication and meeting with Chidambaram, he told the members and PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, “Sir, there may not be a paper trail, but there was certainly discussion going on. Sir, as you know — you have been a Minister yourself in the Government — not everything is on paper or reduced to writing. Maybe there were some file endorsements, but I cannot recall them because the note file is not here.”

To a question, whether he brought the violations and difference of opinion to the notice of the Cabinet Secretary or Chidambaram, Subbarao deposed, “I do not recall having said specifically that we should go back to the Cabinet. That I cannot really say without seeing the file. But I should have briefed the Finance Minister about the ongoing discussions.”

Indicating pressure from Chidambaram and Raja, why no auction of spectrum took place, even after he specifically suggested auction, Subbarao said: “…We (Government) were always arguing on the basis of level playing field rather than on the basis of any growth dimensions that might have subsidised. And if they (Ministers) have chosen so, then as a civil servant, I could not contest that.”

Violations, Timeline in 2G Spectrum Scam

I am just outlining the violations/timeline of the 2G Spectrum Scam and other related telecom scandals. This is just a synopsis of the biggest scam the country witnessed.

# A Raja becomes Union Minister for Environment and Forests in May 2004 and shifts to Ministry of Communications and IT on May 16, 2007. Raja’s friendly real estate companies want to become telecom operators and he informs his decision to Telecom Secretary DS Mathur for granting new licenses and spectrum to new players. But Mathur objects and argues for transparent auction and competitive pricing (as recommended by TRAI from 2003 onwards). Raja wants to grant licenses as per First-Come-First-Serve method (in a peculiar way – who first pays license fee and not who first applied) and old pricing fixed in 2001. In 2001, there were only four million mobile subscribers and it crossed 350 million in mid 2007. So Manju Madhvan, Member (Finance) of DoT, Finance Ministry also pointed out new competitive prices. But all ignored by Raja and he sent the file to Law Ministry for opinion and started procedures.

# On September 24, 2007 DoT issues a press release (released in the late evening and appeared in next day newspapers), citing the last date of application (cut-off date) fixing to October 1, 2007.

#Without Cabinet approval Raja allots Dual Policy or Cross Technology to Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Shyam Telecom in October 2007 at a rate fixed in 2001. This technology allows CDMA operators to change to much wanted GSM Technology. CDMA operators were in bad shape and Raja’s decision became a boon to them. Here the corruption part is on allowing the much wanted GSM license at a six year old price. This move is Raja’s first major corruption in Telecom, which gave him courage to go ahead with 2G Spectrum allocation to new companies.

# On Nov 1, 2007, the Law Minister HR Bhardwaj rejects Raja’s plan and directs to constitute an Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) to form transparent procedures for 2G Spectrum allocation and new licenses.

# Next day on Nov 2, 2007, by 8pm Raja wrote a letter to Prime Minister, objecting on Bhardwaj’s direction. “Law Ministry is out of context,” wrote Raja. This letter was delivered to PM’s residence

# Within an hour (9pm), same day (Nov 2, 2007) – might be alerted by Bhardwaj- PM wrote to Raja to stop all procedures and directs him to get his concurrence in all future actions. This letter was delivered to Raja’s residence. Citing several wrong practices in the past, PM directs Raja to adopt transparent method by auction and new pricing.

# In the mid night, Raja gave an evasive rely to PM, hushing up the directions for auction, competitive pricing. This letter dated Nov 2, 2007 was also delivered to PM’s residence

# A very senior Law Officer (doing all unlawful activities and advisor to all illegal activities) was present in Raja’s residence on Nov 2, 2007 from 7pm to 11:30pm. He drafted all the two letters to Prime Minister by Raja. He was elevated in UPA-2 due to his nexus with all unholy elements in politics and corporate world. How a Law officer can advise against Law Minister’s direction? Rule 8(1)(e) of Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules 1972 says : “A Law Officer ( includes AG/SG/ASG or any other law officer) shall not advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organization or any PSU unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs.

# Finance Secretary Mr. D. Subba Rao wrote to Telecom Secretary Mr. DS Mathur on November 22, 2007 – objecting the pricing policy of 2G Spectrum and arguing for auction. In the letter the Finance Secretary objected the dual policy (cross technology) implemented (2\Oct 2007) to help CDMA operators like Reliance and TATA to more revenue earning GSM technology at a cheap rate fixed in 2001, without cabinet approval.

# Regarding this controversial allotment of dual policy (This was Raja’s first big corruption in Telecom Ministry), in the November 2, 2007 late night letter PM said to Raja : “I came thorough the media on the allotment of dual policy or cross technology)

The CAG report says around Rs.36,000 crore lost over this allotment of dual policy which benefited mainly Reliance and TATA. There is a separate headline : “undue influence to Reliance” in the CAG report which figures the total loss to Rs.1.76 Lakh crores, including the loss on the dual technology.

# Strong resistance by Telecom Secretary DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan prevents Raja from moving ahead. For suggesting series of steps for auction, Raja snubs Manju Madhvan, in an internal note dated Dec 4, 2007 who took VRS soon.(she applied well earlier).

# After 50 days, on Dec 26, 2007, Raja wrote a letter to PM, saying that he was “further enlightened” by Pranab Mukherjee (then External Affairs Minister) and G Vahanvati (then Solicitor General) to go ahead with “pre-emptive and pro-active” decision to allot 2G Spectrum and new licenses. In these letters also Raja argues for reversing the cut-off date o limit the players. PM did not reply, but simply gave a routine acknowledgement on Jan 3, 2008.

# On Dec 31, 2007, DS Mathur retires. Raja brings his trusted man Siddarth Behura as new Telecom Secretary, who worked as an Addl. Secretary with him Ministry of Environment and Forests. Within 10 days (Jan 10, 2008) at 2:45pm DoT uploads a press release saying that cut-off date was reversed from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007. The press release asked the new players to remit fee (huge money ranging from Rs.1500 cr- Rs.1600 cr) between 3:30pm -4:30pm on same day. It is a mystery that how Nine new companies made and remitted huge fee by demand draft within 45 minutes.

#Here is the conspiracy angle. All the nine company owners/brokers were had a meeting with Raja on Jan 9, 2008 at his residence. All were informed by Minister 24 hours before the issue of press release. The cut-off date was reversed to September 25, 2007, because of Raja’s favorite company Unitech applied on Sept 24. Another favourite company Shyam Telelink also applied on Sept 24.

# On Jan 10, 2008, the CEOs Swan and Unitech (most favoured companies of Raja) sit at Private Secretary RK Chandolia’s cabin in Sanchar Bhavan. DDG Access Service (AK Srivastava) directs officials to go Chandolia’s cabin at 3pm. Chandolia asks official o collect application and demand draft from CEOs and directs to give No : 1 status to Swan and No : 2 status to Unitech. Then only counter was opened at eighth floor of Sanachar Bhavan to receive application/ fee from other seven companies. There was a mad rush to become first in the queue and physical fight taken place between rivals. Bouncers were brought. CEOs were quarreled each other some telecom officers were manhandled.. Though police arrived, no case was registered by instruction of Chandolia.

#TRAI Chairman Mr. Nripendra Misra’s letter to Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on January 14, 2008 – objecting the policy, reversal of cut-off date and manipulating his recommendations. Later in the media Misra described DoT had “cherry picked” his recommendations.

#As per the Sec 11(1)(a)(ii) and Sec 11(1)(d) of the TRAI Act, DoT is mandated to get the recommendation of TRAI, if they issue license to new operators. But Raja never sought recommendation of TRAI when he allotted license to new operators like Swan Telecom – changed name to Etisalat DB Telecom, Unitech group companies changed name to Uninor, Loop Telecom (license was granted in the name of Shipping Stop Dotcom India Pvt Ltd!!!!!), Datacom – changed name to Videocon, STel and Allainz Infra (merged/amalgamated with Etisalat later with their license in 2 circles…any smell of corruption or conspiracy?. Let CBI or ED investigate)

#DoT allots spectrum/licenses (including additional spectrum to existing players to settle anger) on March/April 2008. All files were signed by Raja. Unitech applied licenses in different names - Unitech Infrastructure, Unitech Builders and Estates, Aska Projects, Nahan Properties, Hudson Properties, Volga Properties, Adonis Projects and Azare Properties. Later Unitech Group forms eight companies – Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu), Unitech Wireless (North), Unitech Wireless (South), Unitech Wireless (Kolkata), Unitech Wireless (Delhi), Unitech Wireless (East), Unitech Wireless (Mumbai), Unitech Wireless (West).

#Dubious order was issued by Siddhart Behura on April 22, 2008 for facilitating merger (leaving the word acquisition). This helped Unitech to merge all their licenses and helped all to waive the mandatory three year lock-in-period in selling of their shares.

# On Sept 13, 2008, Raja forces BSNL CMD Kuldip Goyal to enter into a un-precedented MoU with Swan, known as Intra-Circle Roaming Agreement. This MoU will help Swan to use all infrastructure (Towers, optical network etc) of BSNL. This MoU was executed just a week before, Swan’s Rs.4500 Cr deal (sale of 45 per cent shares) with Etisalat. Swan gives unsolicited application to BSNL. The BSNL management committee demands 52 paise/call from Swan. But this clause was absent in the MoU. Raja also transfers senior officials in WPC (Joint Wireless Adviser RJS Kushwaha and Deputy Wireless Adviser D Jha) for objecting Swan’s proposals to BSNL and DoT.

# In Sept/October 2008 – Swan offloads 45 per cent shares to UAE based Etisalat for Rs.4500 Cr. (Swan got license for Rs.1530Cr). Etisalat invested Swan through its Mauritius unit. Unitech offloads 60 per cent of shares to Norway based Telenor for Rs.6200Cr. (Unitech got license for Rs.1621 cr). Telenor invested through its South-Asia division. Telenor is a major operator in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

# On Nov 4 2008, Swan informs DoT that - it allotted Rs.380Cr worth shares (9.9%) to a Chennai based newly floated company Genex Exim. This is believed to the kick back from Swan to Raja. Genex was incorporated on September 17, 2008, with two directors — Mohammed Hassan (58) and Ahamed Shakir (41). The company was represented by Ahmed Syed Salahuddin (32) on the board of Swan. The three belong to Kilukarai, a small coastal village in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu link now gets strengthened. Ahmed Syed Salahuddin is the younger son of Syed Mohammed Salahuddin, an NRI business tycoon heading the Dubai-based real estate conglomerate, ETA Ascon Star Group. This was part of the letter to DoT informing the Rs.4500 crore deal with Etisalat.

# ETA Group had several real estate projects cleared (on in Bangalore) during Raja’s stint in Environment Ministry. More over the ETA owner Syed Mohammed Salahuddin is having four decade long association with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. Most of the Fly Overs, new Secretariat complex were built by this man, who was also a distributor of Karunanidhi’s films. Star Health Insurance, owned by this man is running the state government’s group health insurance scheme. Sayed Salahuddin was also named in Justice Sarkaria Commission report in 1976. The Commission was instituted by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, after dismissing Karunanidhi for gross corruption.

# On May 29, 2009 (48 hours after Raja sworn in again as Telecom Minister), Delhi High Court (Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Valmiki Mehta) on hearing the PIL against First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) policy observed: “It is like selling cinema tickets. We find it very strange that public exchequer and valuable resources have been involved and misused in this way. We are completely astounded.”. The Delhi High Court in 1994 termed the FCFS policy as a barbarian and said not a suitable one to a democratic government]


# July 1, 2009 – Justice GS Sistani of Delhi High Court quashed the DoT’s decision to reverse the cut-off date. The case was filed by STel. On Nov 24, 2009 – Delhi HC Chief Justice upheld the Single Bench verdict and rejected the appeal of DoT. Shockingly in these two courts DoT filed an affidavit that Raja got Prime Minister’s concurrence. How Law Ministry and Attorney General GE Vahanvati vetted such an affidavit? The affidavit filed by Telecom Department (mentioned in the Para No : 5 of the verdict given by Delhi HC Chief Justice) only says Raja’s letter to PM on Nov 2, 2007 seeking his consent for reversing the cut off date (last date of application). But the Telecom Department, Minister Raja and the Attorney General Vahanvati cleverly and criminally hushed up PM’s objections and directions to Raja on the same date.

This wrong affidavit was not included in the SLP in the Supreme Court, when The Pioneer reported on misquoting PM in the Delhi High.

# DoT approaches Supreme Court through SLP to quash the HC verdicts. Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy impleads into the case. Sensing danger, Raja wanted the STel to withdraw from the case. On March 5, 2010, Friday evening after office hours, DoT issues an order asking STel to close its operation in three states, citing security reasons. There was no show cause was issued to STel and later Home Ministry revealed that they never raised any sort of security concern. Arm twisted STel surrendered before Raja on March 8, 2010 on Monday and declared that they have no troubles with DoT policy. Vahanvati produced STel’s surrender letter to Supreme Court, which was rejected and directed the company to file an affidavit. Due to Subramanian Swamy’s presence, Raja’s design failed and court said that thy will not interfere into the HC order declaring the change of cut off date as illegal.

# It must be remembered that STel offered to DoT and later to Prime Minister Rs.17,752 crore (mentioned in the Para No : 11 of the verdict of Delhi HC Chief Justice) for pan-Indian license/spectrum. But they got only three circles, due to change of cut-off date. Raja sold out Pan Indian license/spectrum for just Rs.1651 crore, the value fixed in 2001. The figure/rate quoted by STel in letters to DoT, Minister Raja and PM exposes the actual rates of 2G Spectrum in 2007-08 and huge loss to exchequer by Raja’s fraudulent action. This huge offer of STel became one of the basic factor for CAG in assessing the loss happened in 2G Spectrum allocation, including Dual Policy to Reliance and Tata

The figure Rs.17,752 crore offered by STel, mentioned the judgments is typographical error. The actual figure is Rs.13,752 according to CAG, after verifying the DoT papers.

#On October 14, 2009, Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha orders to CBI to probe the spectrum scam under Sec 120B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and Sec 13d of Prevention of Corruption Act. CBI registers FIR on October 21, 2009. The FIR said the loss was Rs.23,000 crore. Later Enforcement Directorate also registers cases. Nothing happened till the Supreme Court intervened in September 2010 on the PIL filed by Prashant Bhushan, leading to the Supreme Court monitoring of the investigation. How can CBI and ED act, when Raja was kept on power till November 2010?

# By September 2010, the cases filed in Supreme Court by Subramanian Swamy and Prashant Bhushan started in the Bench of Justice GS Sighvi and AK Ganguly. Thankfully the mindset of the courts changed after SH Kapadia became the Chief Justice of India Raja finally submits resignation on November 14, 2010.

# The CAG found that out of the 122 licenses, 85 licenses are illegal according to the DoT guidelines itself, amounting to immediate cancellation at any point of time.
CAG found that the licenses given to Swan (13), Unitech(22), Loop(21), Datacom(21) STel(6) and Allianz Infra (2) are totally illegal according to DoT guidelines itself, apart from violations in Companies Act. The CAG tabled the report in Parliament on November 16, 2010 – finding a presumptive loss up to Rs.1.76 lak crore due to the illegal allotment of 2G spectrum including Dual Policy.

[Cartoon Courtesy: Times of India]

Public Sector Banks' Rs.26000 Crore Bonanza to Spectrum Scam Tainted Companies

The Pioneer November 29, 2010

5 dodgy firms received Rs 26,000-cr bank loan

The loans provided by public sector banks to 2G scam-tainted companies are not limited to Unitech and STel. Investigations carried out by The Pioneer show that many more companies were liberally funded by these banks even when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was probing criminal conspiracy in allotment of telecom licences to these firms.

Records available at the Registrar of Companies show that public sector banks provided loans worth more than Rs 26,000 crore to five companies involved in the 2G spectrum scandal.

Most of these loans were disbursed by these banks after the CVC and Central Bureau of Investigation had started investigating the spectrum scandal in mid-2009. The CAG has since then recommended cancellation of the “illegal licences” of all these five companies — Swan Telecom, Unitech, Loop, Datacom (Videocon) and STel.

According to the documents available with The Pioneer, Swan Telecom got Rs1,917 crore from the Punjab National Bank and the Bank of Baroda. Shockingly, Swan — currently known as Etisalat DB India — managed to get around Rs 2,000 crore in loans even before it was awarded the telecom licence. The company’s statements to the Registrar of Companies show that the SBI provided to it the maximum loan of Rs 747 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank (`500 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 400 crore), IDFC (Rs 200 crore) and IL&FS (Rs 70 crore).

In a clear indication that strings were pulled to manage these loans, records show that when the banks funded Swan between October 20 and October 24, 2007, the company had not even received the licence and spectrum.

The final allotment of spectrum and licence came three months after last instalment of the loan amount was disbursed.

Incidentally, these loans were granted within days of the DB Reality owners, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, taking control of Swan from Anil Ambani’s Reliance Telecom.

In the ongoing investigation of loan-for-bribery scam, the CBI is also probing into the loans provided to DB Reality. The agency has not yet linked this case with the huge loans to the spectrum-tainted companies by the public sector banks.

The Pioneer had on Sunday reported that Unitech got a loan of Rs 10,000 crore from various pubic sector banks, including the SBI which doled out more than Rs 8,000 crore.

The Unitech also made hypothecation agreement with SBI Cap Trustee Company, a Government of India company, for Rs 2,500 crore in November 2009. Another company, STel, got the loan from IDBI and its associates for Rs 1,538 crore.

Videocon, which got the licence in the name of Datacom, got a loan of more than Rs 8,000 crore, of which SBI provided Rs 1,000 crore and the SBI Cap Trustees Rs 7,150 crore.

Another scam-tainted company, Loop Telecom, got Rs 400 crore from SBI.

It is still a mystery how these public sector banks granted loans to these tainted companies when investigations were being conducted under the provisions of criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B of IPC) and Section 13 D of the Prevention of Corruption Act, besides several court cases going on for the past two years on the validity of these telecom licences.

The banks had provided huge loans to these companies based only on the telecom licence paper.

The Department of Telecom is a party to most of these loans and controversial officers AK Srivastava and PK Mittal, who are under the CBI radar, are the signatories to these high-volume deals. “Without the consent of political masters, these officials won’t become signatories to such high-volume loans,” said a top DoT official.

According to the CAG report, the telecom licences and spectrum allotted to Swan (15), Unitech (22), Datacom (21), Loop (21) and STel (six) are illegal and require immediate cancellation as per the Department of Telecom guidelines.

The Pioneer, November 28, 2010

Ignoring risk, banks funded 2G scam

With CVC case already registered and CBI probe on, these banks lent over Rs 11,500 cr to 2G-scam tainted companies

In the midst of the loan-for-bribery scam, the role of major public sector banks in providing finance to two 2G spectrum scam-linked real estate companies has now come to the fore. The banks provided loans, worth over Rs 11,500 crore, to Unitech and STel by completely ignoring the risk factors — given that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had already registered a case in the 2G scam and the CBI had begun its probe.

According to the documents available with The Pioneer, the public sector banks allotted Rs 10,000 crore to Unitech and Rs 1,538 crore to STel, based just on the licence papers issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT). The licences to the two are among the 85 licences declared illegal by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

Shockingly, the loans were disbursed by the public sector banks after the CVC registered the case in the 2G spectrum scam in May 2009. It clearly showed that the public sector banks brazenly ignored the risk factors, which are the main basis of all loan disbursements.

Further, it is also a million dollar question as to why the public sector banks granted loans to these companies even after the CBI registered an FIR in connection with the 2G scam and searched the premises of these companies in October 2009.

Out of the Rs 10, 000-crore loan to the Unitech, the major portion was disbursed by the State Bank of India (SBI). The SBI made available a whopping Rs 8,050 crore to the Unitech during 2009-2010.

According to the records of Registrar of Companies, the other banks which lent to the Unitech are: Corporation Bank (Rs 500 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 500 crore), South Indian Bank (Rs 400 crore), Canara Bank (Rs120 crore), Oriental Bank (Rs 70 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 70 crore), Punjab National Bank (Rs 120 crore), Standard Chartered Bank (Rs 100 crore) and Yes Bank (Rs 70 crore).

Unitech also made hypothecation agreement with SBI Cap Trustee Company, a Government of India entity for Rs 2,500 crore in November 2009. All these high volume banking deals were through tripartite agreements, where DoT is a party. DoT officials AK Srivastava and PK Mittal are signatories to these loan agreements. These two officers are on the CBI's radar in the spectrum scam.

According to the CAG report, the Unitech licences and spectrum allotment are totally illegal and calls for immediate cancellation according to the DoT guidelines.

On its part, STel got the Rs 1538-crore loan from IDBI and IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited, during the period between July to November 2009. The licences and spectrum allotted to STel were also found illegal by CAG.

“The entire loan granted to Unitech and STel by these banks was based on the DoT licence papers. No other security was obtained by the banks,” a top official of a bank said.

“Why were no major private sector banks ready to give them even a penny? The entire world knows about the spectrum scam. How can then the public sector banks disburse loans to the companies involved in the scam? The reasons are obvious, now that the loan-for-bribery scam is before all of us,” said the official.

The Pioneer has learned that the CBI is aware of these huge loan disbursements by the public sector banks to these dubious companies. But the probe agency has so far shown no inclination in looking into these angles.

[The writer is Special Correspondent of The Pioneer daily]

The Man Who Felled A King

The Pioneer, November 16, 2010

The man who felled a king
Chandan Mitra New Delhi

The Pioneer felicitates J Gopikrishnan, who unearthed the spectrum scam

For a long time, I did not even know that J Gopikrishnan was a stringer based in Thiruvananthapuram working for The Pioneer’s now-aborted Kochi edition. So when he came to Delhi pleading for a job at the headquarters once the Kochi edition shut in 2007, I was rather sceptical. I told Bureau chief Navin Upadhyay that although I had noticed a few bylined stories by him, Gopi had no exposure to Delhi and, therefore, was unlikely to have any worthwhile contacts here. Navin, however, persuaded me to try him out for three months. In fact, the letter of appointment specifically mentioned this along with a “stipend” that was truly laughable by Delhi standards.

Gopi did not break any earth-shaking stories during the trial period. But his sincerity, diligence, dogged pursuit of stories and pleasing personality made up for that. He was given a proper appointment letter after three months although his salary remained rather low. My opinion began to change after friends in Left parties began to mention him to me in Parliament’s Central Hall, pointing to the depth of his knowledge of the telecom sector. Officially, he was on the Left beat so I still did not attach too much significance to that.

Then the cascade began. Starting mid-2008, he broke one story after another on scandalous ramifications of the 2G spectrum allotment. The issue was complex and most people don’t understand its intricacies even now. But Gopi had cracked the scandal.

And as one exclusive report followed another, information flowed to him like a magnet attracting pins. Navin worked hard on these reports, filling up missing links, polishing them and quoting relevant documents. The 2G scam was Gopi’s passion and he scoured the Net, apart from visiting officers in their offices and homes, gathering material. He had friends across the political “spectrum”; Gopi, despite his Kerala origins, was ideology-neutral.

I don’t know how much pressure he came under and from which quarters. But I faced more pressure over these reports than anything else in my 27 years of journalism, of which nearly 20 have been spent in senior editorial positions. I am proud to have withstood them. But even more proud that I gave a dynamic young man from Kerala a break in the national media, a break he used to do the nation a sterling service. J Gopikrishnan has made history and The Pioneer basks in his achievement.

The Pioneer Investigative Team asked Gopi to unravel his journey from a fledgling political reporter to giant killer. Excerpts from a chat:

Q: How did you come across the 2G scam story?

A: We sensed a scam when Swan and Unitech started offloading shares at whopping prices of Rs.4,500 crore and Rs.6,200 crore in September 2008. Bureau chief Navin Upadhyay asked me to dig for information and luckily we got a great whistleblower, who knew the ins and outs of the Telecom Ministry. He once told me the PM was totally unhappy with Raja and had summoned him to ask what was going on.

Slowly, the whistleblower narrated the entire range of corruption in the Ministry. Those days, Minister Raja was making false claims that he had followed his predecessors. This young Government officer told me about the parking of funds in front companies by the Minister and his associates in the name of relatives. He told me who the actual beneficiaries of the scam were, including corporates, politicians and lobbyists.

This officer asked me to talk to my Editor and get his consent and only then would he reveal further. The Editor told me to go ahead and the whistleblower became a goldmine of hidden information for The Pioneer. Days and nights of discussion and checking the authenticity of facts happened in his office and at many crowded places in the city, once it became important to avoid detection.

Q: Which was the first story you did and what was the reaction?

A: After finding out the gamut of front companies dealing in real estate, we decided to expose Raja’s ill-gotten wealth. Chandan Mitra and Navin Upadhyay saw all documents and decided to go ahead with the series. The first story appeared on December 11, 2008, on Raja’s main real estate front company, Green House Promoters. The details of other companies and hidden irregularities in the spectrum scam were published over the following days.

Q: Did you come under pressure to stop the campaign? How did you ward them off?

A: I met Raja after the first report, as directed by the Editor. He alleged that I was being funded by his rivals in the party and even told me some names. He was visibly shaken asking me how I got the details of his personal assets. He requested me to avoid writing. My reply was that I had been deputed by the Editor only to take his version, nothing else. Raja agreed to speak, but repeatedly requested me to stop writing further on this. Similarly, many corporate groups were after me with the same plea. I must say none threatened or behaved badly.

Those days, Raja was planning to conduct the 3G auction at cheap base rates without Cabinet’s approval. Many agents from the corporate sector requested us to stop our series of exposes, saying our reports would force the Government to refer the 3G auction to an EGoM. We told them that was exactly what we wanted. But I must say some friends with contacts in high places warned me I may be targeted. It was a hidden warning, which I ridiculed. It would not be fair to reveal what kind of offers were made by different entities to avoid the 3G issue going to an EGoM. But finally, the Cabinet referred it to an EGoM, which put Raja out of the picture and the nation netted Rs.1.06 lakh crore.

Q: Did any political or corporate entity offer you financial inducements to stop writing on this?

A: Yes, they did. The figures were mind-boggling. Corporate lobbyists and Raja’s people even asked me to stop informing the Editor and end the series abruptly. I told them even the meeting with them was in the knowledge of the Editor and the Bureau chief. Some shameless fellows tried to access Raja, claiming friendship with me. Some were acting as double agents. One top lobbyist was actually a double agent. That person was leaking information against Raja while providing information to him too. Pressure on the whistleblower was enormous by now, but he stood by us fearlessly. There were several politicians who enlightened and encouraged me. Some bureaucrats and police officials also guided our investigations.

Q: Do you think the matter will end with Raja’s resignation or will more heads roll?

A: I personally feel the court cases filed by Subramanian Swamy and Prashant Bhushan would come to logical conclusions, leading to the cancellation of all licences which were found illegal by CAG. The court may direct auctions to be held like the old petrol pump scam of Satish Sharma. I don’t expect anything from the Government in this matter. Some persons, including Raja, may face the wrath of the law. I don’t think anything harsh will happen to corporates from the Government’s side. After the CAG report and PAC findings, if the Government has the willpower, it can -- by executive order -- cancel all licences and order auction, which will definitely fetch around Rs.2-3 lakh crore.

Q: How do you think the Government can make the spectrum policy transparent and above board?

A: Spectrum management should be handed over to ISRO, but no politician would like that for obvious reasons. In India, spectrum is not yet audited. No one knows how much spectrum is available. This was purposefully done for making easy money. First the Government should ask an organisation like ISRO to audit spectrum availability in all departments. Only then will transparency come.

Q: After Telecom what? Do you have more targets in mind?

A: No idea. I felt totally exhausted upon learning of Raja’s resignation. I was expecting good news on Sunday, when sources told me Pranab Mukherjee had firmly asked Karunanidhi at 11.30 am to remove Raja. This was doubly confirmed when they later said Raja was forced to sign the papers around 5.30 pm. Anyway, no idea what’s for me next…life will go on. I was covering Health and Left (parties) those days. By a stroke of luck, Raja came on our radar…