Spectrum dirt at BJP doorstep, raids on Airtel, Vodafone

NEW DELHI: Just a day ahead of BJP’s rally against “black money”, the telecom stain spread to the party’s tenure in office with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registering a first information report (FIR) for alleged irregularities amounting to a loss of Rs 508 crore for spectrum allotted in 2002, when the late Pramod Mahajan was communications minister.
The CBI booked two top telecom operators — Bharti Airtel (then Bharti Cellular) and Vodafone Essar (then Hutchison Max and Sterling Cellular) — along with former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh, former DDG J R Gupta and other unknown officials of DoT.
CBI on Saturday carried out searches at residences of Gupta and Ghosh in Delhi, the Bharti Airtel office in Gurgaon and Vodafone offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
The companies were seen to be favoured with allocation of additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz in a decision that was rushed through in a single day on January 31, 2002. The firms are alleged to have connived with telecom officials. Since Mahajan died in 2006, he has not been named in the FIR.
CBI also accused the officials of charging lower than the mandated fee while allocating additional spectrum.
BJP leaders said CBI’s move was politically driven and intended to establish parity between UPA and the Opposition. “These are diversionary tactics to save Union home minister P Chidambaram who should be investigated for the 2G scam. The NDA decision was based on well-defined criteria and no favours were done,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar.
Allocation as per government policy, say Vodafone, Bharti
Within hours of the CBI raids, Vodafone and Bharti Airtel said they had complied with all rules for allocation of additional spectrum.
“We would like to categorically state that all the spectrum allotted to us from time to time has been strictly as per stated government policy,” Bharti Airtel said in an emailed statement. “We are providing all details and correspondence to the authorities and shall provide complete support,” the company said.
Vodafone India said, “There was a visit by CBI officials this morning at our office in Mumbai and Delhi seeking information on the spectrum allocation in 2001-02. All our documents are in complete compliance with the governing laws...Vodafone India is completely cooperating with officials and will provide all required details.”