2G scam: Blame game continues as Behura points fingers at RBI governor

Blame game continued for the third consecutive day in the special 2G court when former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura on Wednesday dragged Home Minister P Chidambaram, RBI Governor D Subbarao and ex-member finance in the Telecom Commission, Manju Madhavan for not revising the spectrum licence fee.

Behura's counsel Aman Lekhi told special CBI Judge OP Saini he had no role in the case except implementing the government's policy.

Opposing the charges of corruption and other penal offences, Behura told the court Subbarao had decided against revising the entry fee of Rs1,659 crore for 2G licence and if he is not an accused in this case, Behura too should not have been put on trial.

"Subbarao finalised the decision taken in the meeting of December 4, 2007 that the policy stood approved and the entry fees (of Rs 1,659 crore fixed in 2001 during NDA's regime) need not be revised," Lekhi told the court, adding that Manju Madhavan also objected to the entry fee. But when the pricing same as that of 2001 was approved, she chose to remain silent.

“Madhavan wanted the entry fee to be raised in line with the market dynamics prevailing then. Since, she remained silent, by the same principle as applied on me, she should also be made an accused and not a witness," Lekhi said.

"Even the Finance Minister (then P Chidambaram) was also present in the meeting (held on December 4, 2007). Going by the same principle, if I have been made an accused then Subbarao should also be made an accused," he said.

Behura targeting the former Finance Secretary reflected the trend of the 2G scam-- accused naming top leaders and officials. Former Telecom Miniser A Raja also named Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Attorney General GE Vahanvati over the last two days.

The former bureaucrat defended himself, saying the acts done by him were in pursuance of the government policy and he did not commit any wrong that caused a loss to the exchequer.

Asserting that there was not an iota of evidence against him, Behura said he was only a civil servant who had no role to play except implementing the government's policy.

"Neither Subbarao nor DS Mathur (former Telecom Secretary) or any other person from any ministry are before this court as accused," said Behura, adding he should have been made a witness and not an accused as he had no role in finalisation of the covert act relating to the spectrum allocation.

“I'm a bureaucrat. I had no role in formulating the policy. My job was only to implement the policy framed by the govt. First it has to be decided whether the policy was bad. Only then can we talk about someone's misconduct. But deciding whether a policy is correct or not is outside the purview of this court. This court is not competent to analyse policy decisions. I'm being falsely penalised,” Lekhi said.

Behura contended that he joined the telecom ministry in January 2008 and by then all the major policy decisions like those on spectrum pricing, the entry fee and the first-come-first-served policy had already been decided.

"The persons concerned have been made witnesses in the case and unfortunately Behura, who had no role in it, has been made an accused. This is nothing but an arbitrary selection of people as accused and witnesses. CBI has to do a lot of explanation," Behura's counsel said.

The alleged gigantic loss of Rs30,984 crore to the state exchequer in 2G spectrum allocation was caused due to the government policy and not because of his criminal acts, he claimed.

"The government policy was focused on spreading competition, improving services and increasing tele-density. If the policy was wrong then it does not make it criminal," Lekhi told the court.

Behura's arguments will continue tomorrow.