The Enforcement Directorate on Friday reportedly issued summons to R.K. Chandolia, personal secretary to former telecom minister A. Raja, in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The ED has already issued summons to nine private telecom companies, who were in the race for 2G allotment, in connection with its probe on Thursday.
According to sources, ED officials are expected to question Mr Chandolia in a day or two. The ED is also expected to issue summons to four more officials of the department of telecommunications over the next couple of days.
The ED has already registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against unknown officials of the DoT and unknown private companies in connection with the award of new telecom licenses in 2008. The CBI has also registered a case saying there was large-scale corruption in the allocation of 2G radio spectrum licences in 2009.
Sources further said, “The ED is likely to issue summons for questioning to former telecom minister A. Raja very soon.” The ED recently grilled corporate lobbyist Nira Radia in connection with its probe, sources added.
“Some senior DoT officers allegedly granted unified access services licenses to a few selected companies at nominal rate by rejecting the applications of the others without any valid reasons thereby causing wrongful loss to the government and corresponding wrongful gain to private persons or companies. The licenses were awarded to certain companies by putting a cap on the number of applicants against the recommendations of the TRAI,” sources said.
The ED also wrote a letter to the CBI requesting transfer of certain documents, which were collected by the latter during raids and questioning of private telecom companies. The ED needs certain documents, which are in the possession of the CBI, to verify the facts, sources said. The CBI will take two months time to finish the investigation as it is examining transcripts relating to 5,000 calls (out of which 3,800 have been analysed), 6,000 files and 80,000 pages of documents related to 2G allotment.