Former Telecom Minister Mr Arun Shourie on Friday told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that the foundation for the 2G spectrum allocation scam were laid at the time when Mr Dayanidhi Maran was the Telecom Minister.

“I pointed out to them (CBI) the things which were to happen in accordance with Cabinet decisions never happened neither during Mr Maran's term and certainly not under Mr Raja. And they never went back to the Cabinet for changing the decision.” Mr Shourie said after a three-hour long meeting with the CBI in connection with the ongoing probe into 2G spectrum scam.

Mr Shourie appeared before the CBI after a one-man panel comprising Mr Justice Shivraj Patil blamed him for not following procedures when he was the Telecom Minister in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government between January 2003 and May 2004.

But Mr Shourie said that it was Mr Maran who had started the mess in allocating 2G licences, even before Mr A. Raja was appointed the Telecom Minister.

“It was in Mr Maran's time that one sentence was put into the guidelines that there shall be no cap on the number of operators in a circle. Such a change could only come in the form of a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendation,” Mr Shourie said.

“This (change) comes in the guidelines of 2005 whereas the TRAI did not recommend it till 2007. So by what horoscope did Mr Maran anticipate these recommendations – two years ahead? That is how some operations were planned that could not go through and then Mr Raja acted on them.”

The BJP leader said that Mr Raja should become an approver and spill the beans. Mr Shourie said that the Government was trying to mislead the nation by raising the issue of who started the first-come-first- served policy when the real issue was about bribes taken while allocating 2G spectrum.

“Real issue is that money was exchanged. What were senior members of the Government doing when all this was happening? The Government wants to derail this issue,” he said.

> tkt@thehindu.co.in

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