2G scam: Raja to start defence from Monday

Former Telecom Minister A Raja, arrested for his role in the 2G scam, will begin his arguments against the charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy leveled at him from Monday. With the CBI completing its arguments on framing of charges against Raja and 16 others, including 3 telecom firms, the Delhi court declared that the former minister will begin his arguments from July 25.

“Arguments on charge for prosecution heard and concluded. Put up for arguments on charge for the accused persons on July 25, 2011,” Special CBI Judge O P Saini said.

While concluding his arguments, Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit told the court that going by the note on revision of licence fee by Indian Revenue Service officer Manju Madhavan or the Prime Minister’s letter, Rs 30,000 crore loss has been caused to the public exchequer.

Lalit said that besides Raja others involved in the scam were former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, Raja’s erstwhile aide R K Chandolia and corporate honchos Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Sanjay Chandra.  “The loss that has been caused across the board is Rs 30,000 crore. And on the basis of the documents presented before the court, the loss caused by Swan and Unitech is Rs 7,100 crore,” Lalit said.