CBI defends Chidambaram's role as FM

The CBI on Thursday defended Home Minister P Chidambaram’s role in the 2G scam and told the Supreme Court that as finance minister in UPA-I he was not in a position to stop the policy decision taken by the telecom ministry.

CBI counsel K K Venugopal said though Chidambaram has been accused of not doing anything when the policy was changed in favour of first come first serve basis instead of an auction, the attack on him was “politically fruitful”. The finance minister could not have cancelled the licences as it had to be a major policy decision by the Government. In such a situation, no “criminality” could be attached to the minister.

The bench comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice A K Ganguly heard the CBI counsel and adjourned the hearing till October 10.

The CBI said it was an independent agency and the hearings are impeding its efficiency as a large number of its staff are employed to report to the court at every stage of the investigation, apart from assisting in the day-to-day hearing. Ministers have been jailed and some big players are under investigation as a result of CBI’s investigations into the scam, the counsel said.

After the investigations, Tata’s Datacom has come out without blemishes. However, in case of Anil Ambani-owned Reliance firms, the agency is still investigating the transactions in the sale of shares between Delphi and Swan Telecom as they were at undervalued prices. The firms are accused of being shadows of Reliance.