Some People Exaggerated Things to Astronomical Levels: 2G Court Tacitly Indicts Former CAG Vinod Rai

New Delhi: In a tacit indictment of former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai who pegged the loss at Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum scam, the special 2G court on Thursday said that it was a 'scam' created by some people by exaggerating figures to "astronomical levels".

According to 2G judge O P Saini, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had lost its credibility by the time the news reports about wrongful losses to public money had started pouring in. He said that on account of various actions and inactions of the DoT officials, nobody believed the version of DoT "and a huge scam was seen by everyone where there was none."

The court further held: "These factors compelled people to conjecture about a big scam. Thus, some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels."

This statement by the judge can clearly be seen aimed at Rai's assessment of quantum of loss accruing to the exchequer in the allocation of the 2G spectrum during the erstwhile UPA regime.

The Congress-led UPA government came under fire over the allocation of spectrum without auction in the wake of a damning report released by the CAG.

Rai had then calculated that 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 — under the UPA regime when Raja was the telecom minister — led to notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer.

The Supreme Court verdict in 2012 had also taken note of this report when it directed the CBI to examine the findings of the CAG report and take necessary actions.

When the apex court was finally hearing the case, Gopal Subramanian, the then Solicitor General had however submitted that the loss indicated in the report of CAG was based on assumptions and hence, the SC should not lend credence to the numbers indicated therein.

After the 2G court's verdict of acquittal on Thursday, Congress leaders have trained their guns against Rai, seeking his prosecution for misleading the country.