The petition on which the CBI probe was ordered by the Supreme Court on the issue had alleged that instead of following the policy of auction, the DoT went ahead with the FCFS based on the 2001 price.
Sanjay Chandra, managing director of Unitech group who along with four other corporate honchos, is in jail in connection with 2G scam, today claimed in the Delhi high court that the policy of first-come-first serve (FCFS) policy was backed by the Prime Minister.
"So far as the formulation of policy is concerned, I am not the operative cause and the operative cause (for the FCFS policy) is the head of the government," noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Chandra of Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd, told Justice Ajit Bharihoke.
The petition on which the CBI probe was ordered by the Supreme Court on the issue had alleged that instead of following the policy of auction, the DoT went ahead with the FCFS based on the 2001 price.
Citing from the speeches of the Prime Minister in Parliament and in a public function, Jethmalani said the head of the government had endorsed the FCFS policy for the grant of UAS licenses.
"The poor man, my client, did not persuade the Prime Minister to talk like this," Jethmalani said while arguing for bail for Chandra who, along with four other corporate bigwigs, has been arrested in connection with the scam.
Besides Chandra of Unitech, Swan Telecom Director Vinod Goenka and three top officials of Reliance ADA Group Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are in jail after their bail plea was dismissed by the special court on April 20.
Jethmalani rubbished CBI's plea that Chandra had entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and his personal secretary RK Chandolia and secured licenses for eight Unitech group companies.
"I have not made the kill but I have been killed. My case is on different footing as I did not sell a single share and, in fact, incurred lost around Rs10,000 crore," he said.
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