2G scam verdict vindicates Joint Parliamenty Committee stand: P C Chacko

Kochi: The Joint Parliamenty Committee, which probed the 2G Spectrum scam, chairman P.C Chacko said that the special court verdict acquitting senior leaders including former telecom minister A Raja and DMK leader Kanimozhi for lack of evidence had ratified the JPC stand. “The 2-G Spectrum scam is a good example of how Constitutional institutions overstep their powers and pose a serious challenge to democratic governments,” he said while addressing a meet the press programme in Ernakulam Press Club on Friday.

“The case was just one of the many political stories spun by the then Opposition, the BJP. The calculation of a loss of Rs 1. 76 lakh crores was erroneous and aimed at tarnishing the clean image of the then Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh. The 2G license was served on a first come first serve basis,” he said. Mr. Chacko added that Vinod Rai, the current banking ombudsman and then Comptroller and Auditor General, had clearly overstepped the boundaries of his powers and had repeatedly failed to answer the question put forth by the JPC on what basis he had calculated the presumptive loss.

“Furthermore, the committee had questioned the violation of confidentiality clause when the CAG report was leaked from government offices to media, to which he had no satisfactory reply,” Chacko said. The JPC report on the scam was still before the Parliament and if the BJP wanted, they could reject the court verdict and order a new inquiry, he added. “During the evidence-taking, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who was a member of the JPC, said that there was no need to continue the probe and remarked that 2G spectrum was a telecom revolution and not a scam,” Chacko said.