CAG defends report on 2G spectrum; CBI findings not final

"Our report is on the basis of computation. The CBI has its own way of doing (things) and it is not final. Our report is final," Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai said when asked about the discrepancy in the two reports.

While the CAG has pegged revenue losses due to faulty allocation of 2G spectrum at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, the CBI has estimated them at Rs 30,984 crore.

Rai further said that its report on the 2G spectrum allocation was the "best speaking document" on the subject.

"What we feel is there in our report. Our report is the best speaking document on what I feel about it and I reiterate (that)," the CAG said.

After the CAG submitted its report on the spectrum loss, Telecom Minister Sibal had slammed its projection of Rs 1.76 lakh crore as presumptive loss on account of 2G spectrum allocation, terming its methodology as "utterly erroneous."

He had said there was "no loss at all" to the exchequer due to allocation of licences and 2G spectrum in 2008.

Earlier this month, the CBI had filed its first charge- sheet on the case indicting former Telecom Minister A Raja and eight others, including former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, and three telecom companies.

The companies named in the charge-sheet filed in a Delhi court include Reliance Communications, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom. A supplementary charge-sheet is to be filed later this month in the case that is being monitored by the Supreme Court.

The charge-sheet running into about 80,000 pages was filed before Judge O P Saini in the special court constituted exclusively to try the case that has hit the UPA government politically in less than two years of its return to power.

Charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption have been levelled against Raja, his Private Secretary R K Chandolia, Behura and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa.

The CBI said that investigation into issuance of new Unified Access Services Licences and subsequent allocation of 2G Spectrum during 2008-09 has established commission of offences under Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.