CBI Director A P Singh on Tuesday contradicted the zero-loss claim by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal in the allocation of 2G spectrum. He was appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi disclosed after a meeting of the committee that Singh told the members in a candid manner that it is wrong to say that there was a zero loss in the allocation of 2G spectrum. He said the loss has indeed occurred,but he could not exactly quantify it, Joshi said referring to Singhs deposition before the panel. The CBI Director,according to him,maintained that the investigation by the agency was focussed on the criminal side,which meant whether or not there was a violation of the procedure laid. The CBI is not into accountancy, sources in the committee quoted Singh as having said in reply to questions from the members. Sibal,soon after being assigned the Telecom portfolio,had embarked on a campaign to make the claim that the 2G spectrum allocation had caused a zero loss to the exchequer. He had termed utterly erroneous the CAG projection that the presumptive loss ran up to Rs 1.72 lakh crore. The CBI,in its FIR,has already maintained that the losses may be around Rs 22,000 crore. Joshi revealed that he had received the reply of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in response to his January 19 letter regarding Sibals public criticism of the CAG report on the 2G spectrum allocation. The committee decided that I should meet her (to apprise her of its views), Joshi said,implying that the committee was not satisfied with the Speakers reply. The PAC chief had written to the Speaker that the statement (of Sibal) raises several issues regarding parliamentary propriety and preserving and respecting the independence of the CAG an institution established by the Constitution and the PAC,a committee elected by Parliament..
