New Delhi, April 27: Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while raising questions on the role of his office in the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G spectrum allocation scam.
As per reports, Wednesday, the PAC headed by BJP leader MM Joshi has blamed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for failing to bring the alleged irregularities committed by former Telecom Minister A Raja in allocation of 2G spectrum licenses to the knowledge of Prime Minister Dr Singh.
The PAC has also concluded that the delay by the PMO in apprising Dr Singh of the facts of the issue, especially the questionable decision to stick to the first-come first-serve method of spectrum allocation, benefitted Raja.
Raja had written a letter to PMO about the 2G licensing procedure being followed by his office, but the PMO sat over it and the delay benefitted Raja as he went on with allotting the licenses on first-come first-serve basis.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss to the national exchequer due to the faulty allocation process of 2G spectrum adopted by the telecom ministry has also been accepted by the PAC.
The committee also opined that it was wrong to give licensing power to the telecom minister.
The final report of the PAC, which will be distributed to all the members of the parliamentary panel, also outlines the brazenness with which A Raja bent rules to distribute telecom licenses and 2G spectrum – allegedly in exchange of bribes.
The findings of the report will surely comes as a major relief for the ruling Congress, particularly for Prime Minister, who has been battling various charges of graft against his government.
The PAC had summoned Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati, CBI Director A P Singh and Law Secretary D R Meena to appear before it to give evidence in the probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
The PAC quizzed Vahanvati about the legal opinions he may have given to the Telecom Ministry when he was Solicitor General in UPA-I.
Importantly, the PAC had also called Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar and Principal Secretary in PMO T KA Nair to depose before it on April 16.
The term of the PAC headed by Joshi is expiring on April 30.
The new PAC, in which Joshi will continue to be the chairperson, will take charge on May 1 and is set to carry on the probe into the anomalies in 2G spectrum allocation.
–Agencies