2G spectrum loss figure of Rs1.76 lakh crore not mine: Auditor

RP Singh, the bureaucrat who signed the 2G spectrum audit of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) said he was forced to sign it despite disagreeing with it. Former director general CAG's Post and Telecommunications, Singh said that he was made to sign the report by his seniors in CAG. Singh retired in September 2011.

According to Singh, the CAG officials even helped senior BJP leader and chief of the Public Accounts Committee MM Joshi in preparing the controversial report that went ballastic about huge 'presumptive' losses in the spectrum auction. The report had severely indicted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister P Chidambaram and others.

Joshi began heading the PAC in 2010, two years after the committee began its probe into the 2G matter. The CAG report which was tabled in Parliament in November 2010 put the presumptive loss from spectrum allocation between Rs57,666 crore and Rs1.76 lakh crore.

It may be recalled that nearly half the 21-member PAC rejected the report. When Joshi submitted the report before the Lok Sabha without their signatures on April 30, 2011, it was returned.

Stating that the CAG report is not his, Singh said "I sent a report that put the loss at Rs2,645 crore. Moreover, if CAG Vinod Rai issues a written instructions on how he wants the report, who am I to go against it?"

Tabled in Parliament on November 16, 2010, the CAG report put the presumptive loss from spectrum allocation between Rs57,600 crore and Rs1.76 lakh crore.