Former telecom minister A Raja today took on Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati,saying as the then Solicitor General,he had approved the contentious press release on issuance of telecom licences. He also targeted the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India,calling him legally illiterate. The SG (Vahanvati) had approved that the applicant who fulfills the condition of the Letter of Intent (LoI) first gets licence first. I followed his advice and landed in jail. He is enjoying office outside, said Raja,through his counsel Susheel Kumar. As his two-day long defence argument drew to a close today,Raja suddenly rose,pushed aside his lawyer,and presented his arguments before special CBI judge O P Saini. The CBI had said the press release was amended without Vahanvatis approval,thereby amounting to forgery. But Raja said today that he struck off the last para of the release and inserted the words press release as amended this is the only material to prove Section 468 & 471 (forging documents). I would have been guilty of forgery only if I had concealed anything. I deleted a para (which purportedly sought to change the first-come-first-serve criteria) as it was in contradiction with the Cabinet policy. He (Vahanvati) had approved the press release. Moreover,if the release is issued under my seal where is the forgery. Rajas counsel said he made a note after signing the press release that it had been approved as amended,and then sent it to Vahanvati,who had been defending it before the TDSAT and the Delhi High Court as the lawyer of the DoT,before showing nervousness after becoming a prosecution witness. After 2008,he (Vahanvati) must have seen it (press release) a hundred times. Could he not say then or raise an objection? All this while he has been maintaining that it is a genuine press release and has been defending it in various fora, he said. Questioning Vahanvatis sudden change of stance,he said: Will the top law officer of the country let it go if a minister makes changes in his advice? He became Attorney General from the Solicitor General. He became wise only after three years. The alleged tampering with the first-come-first serve policy,according to the CBI,manipulated the seniority list by ensuring licences to firms that applied later. Why is Vahanvati being so apprehensive? We are not saying he has done any forgery. I am owning up that I amended and approved it. It is my document,I amended it,approved it,signed it. We are not blaming him, he said. Raja also criticised the CAG report estimating a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum allocation,saying it is a worthless paper by a legally illiterate person. The CAG is just an accountant. Not once did the accountant (CAG) talk of his (Rajas) obligation to auction. He is not a lawyer. But just an accountant and howsoever high he may be,has no knowledge of law, said his counsel Kumar. Not sparing Special Judge O P Saini either,he said: Why do you decide and hear the case under Supreme Court pressure. You denied bail to me because of this pressure. Detention is illegal and you should release me as early as possible. In an apparent criticism of the SC,he asked the judge: How can anybody tell you that the chargesheet will be filed after 60 days? How can anybody say that the bail plea could be heard only after framing of charges? No court in India can interfere in your work. On PM,media to blame A day after dragging PM Manmohan Singh and then finance minister P Chidambaram into the 2G scam,A Raja on Tuesday blamed the media for putting words in my mouth that I implicated the PM. But he added that if I am here for dereliction of duty,then the PM should also be here for error of judgment in issuance of licences. He also submitted that Chidambaram is bound to appear as a witness.
