Montek joins anti-CAG chorus on 2G losses
Montek joins the chorus of those rubbishing CAG's estimates of the Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum scam.
The ruling Congress party's shrill attack on India's top audit body, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) acquired a heavyweight ally - the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Montek joined the chorus of those rubbishing CAG's estimates of the Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum scam.
"It's widely been said and, I think, the public is being misled quite a bit into this. There has been no loss to the exchequer. What the CAG has done is not, in my view, the correct way of doing it," Ahluwalia told a TV channel on Sunday.
He said it was "not very fruitful" focusing on the revenue losses. This contradicted the entire policy of the government which was aimed at extending mobile services. He also defended Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom for selling their stakes after securing airwaves.
"It is absolutely true Swan and Unitech issued new equity to companies that bought into them because they had telecom spectrum, but this money didn't go to promoters. It (money) went into new firms and it is meant to be used to roll- out telecom services. They didn't sell their equity. They expanded the equity of the company and brought in new people. That's not the same thing," Montek claimed.
Opposition parties have alleged that promoters of Swan and Unitech Wireless - now renamed Etisalat and Uninor - had reaped windfall profits by selling their stakes after being allotted cheap 2G telecom spectrum.
Uninor and Etisalat are among 11 companies that have been issued notices by the Supreme Court on a plea seeking cancellation of licences for second generation phone services during Raja's tenure.
The other companies are Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, S-Tel, Loop Telecom, Videocon, Allianz Infra, Dishnet Wireless and Vodafone-Essar.