New Delhi: In his memoir 2G Saga Unfolds, former telecom minister A Raja has not held back any punches. But he has reserved his harshest words for the then Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai – who estimated a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in the 2G Spectrum allocation.
“It is my conviction consequent to the whole experience of the trial that there was a political motivation to kill UPA-II and Rai’s was the shoulder on which the gun was placed. It is indeed sad that in spite of having so many intelligence agencies and eminent legal minds at its disposal the UPA-II government could not sense this and only tried to use me as a shield but were still unable to escape the bullet,” he writes in the book, a copy of which was accessed exclusively by CNN-News18’s Executive Editor Bhupendra Chaubey.
Raja claims that the CAG report was faulty and a “blatant lie,” that Rai was serving “ulterior motives” and that his report was “mere trash, fit for the dustbin.”
“Rai was the ‘sutradhaar’ who created the devious apparition (2G scam),” Raja says in his book, adding at another place that “Rai in his unscrupulous quest for self-aggrandisement betrayed the community confidence and committed condemnable sacrilege.”
Having written his book while the 2G trial was still going on, Raja demands that Vinod Rai “be called as a witness in the criminal case filed against me so that my defence has the opportunity to cross-examine and legally challenge him.”
Raja was acquitted in the spectrum allocation scam last month.
In noticeably harsh language, Raja mocks Vinod Rai and the intentions with which he compiled the 2G report.
“Rai’s report is essentially a mixture of inappropriate legal interpretations, incongruous comparisons and flippant allegations, ignoring the Government’s standpoint and the concomitant laws… Auditor General of India) Vinod Rai while appearing well-intentioned, has executed the functions of his office with ulterior motives and lack of objectivity.”
The former telecom minister laments that even Supreme Court, which cancelled 122 telecom licenses owing to allegations of corruption, was taken in by the claims of Rai.
“Among the statutory and the constitutional institutions involved in 2G issues, some failed to understand, and some failed to discover the facts. The most atrocious is Rai who did not want to understand even the truth that was discovered by him,” he says.
Raja claims that Rai compiled his report with a motive of “riling up the public” and sensationalising the situation.
“It would perhaps have been in the public’s better interest to investigate Rai’s motivation to rush into this ‘hunt’ while almost blatantly ignoring the decisions and recommendations of TRAI, the Union Cabinet and the Telecom Commission! Even after TRAI’s explanations refuted the views expressed in the CAG’s report, Rai was not willing to correct his stand. It is ironic that such a person lays claim to the badge of ‘Nation’s Conscience Keeper’,” he says.
He questions CAG’s motives, which had in its report claimed that finance and telecom ministries had opposing views about the way in which the 2G spectrum was allocated by asking, “Why did CAG not write to the Telecom Ministry to get a response, if they had found that the Finance Ministry had taken a contrary stand in their file?”
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