2G Scam: Glaring Illegalities In Trial Court Judgment Acquitting DMK Leader A Raja And Others, CBI Tells Delhi HC

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday (May 24) told the Delhi High Court that there were "glaring illegalities" in the December 2017 trial court order acquitting key accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja, and firms involved in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

Challenging the trial court judgement, the CBI argued that it was riddled with “erroneous conclusions" and lacked a solid legal foundation.

The agency made the submissions in its appeal challenging the acquittal of the accused individuals and firms.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, after hearing part arguments, listed the matter for further proceedings on 29 May.

"I will demonstrate that there are glaring illegalities in the (trial court) judgment. The evidence placed by the CBI was disregarded. Appreciation of evidence was completely wrong. I will show that the judgment was perverse and there were flaws in it," advocate Neeraj Jain, who appeared in the court on behalf of the CBI, argued.

The CBI lawyer said that the case revolves around "five key issues" of misconduct, namely the collusion between government officials and telecom operators, manipulation of a cut-off date, violation of the first-come-first-serve principle, failure to revise the entry fee, and the presence of a money trail worth Rs 200 crore.

The lawyer further stated that the unlawful actions of the accused resulted in a staggering loss of Rs 22,000 crore to the public exchequer.

Separately, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also lodged an appeal challenging the acquittal of all the accused in a related money-laundering case, which is currently pending before the court.

On 23 April, the High Court had asked the CBI, the ED, Raja, and other parties for their submissions in the appeal contesting the acquittal of the defendants and companies in the 2G spectrum allocation case. Justice Sharma told all the parties in the case that the written submissions must not exceed five pages and posted the case for hearing on 22 May.

On 21 December, 2017, a special court acquitted Raja, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi, and other defendants in the scam-related CBI and ED cases.

Others who were acquitted included prominent businessmen Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia, IP Khaitan, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Sanjay Chandra, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and RK Chandolia, who served as PS to Raja in the telecom ministry.

The Special CBI Court also acquitted 17 others, including the late DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, director of Kalaignar TV, in the ED case.

On 19 March, 2018, the ED approached the High Court challenging the special court's order acquitting all the accused.

A day later, the CBI too challenged in the High Court the acquittal of the accused in the case. The CBI had told the High Court that the trial court verdict in the 2G spectrum scam case, which acquitted all the accused persons, was challenged following an opinion from the Central government that it is a "fit case" for appeal.

The 2G case relates to the decision of Raja, a nominee of DMK in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, to award 122 telecom licences in 2008 at 2001 rates, which according to Comptroller and Audiotor General of India (CAG) estimates resulted in presumptive loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore. In addition, Raja was accused of tweaking rules to favour select companies in the allocation of spectrum and licences. CAG's finding and the allegations against Raja, led to his arrest and that of others by the CBI.