The CBI, which is probing possible criminal aspects in the allotment of spectrum licenses since 2001, will soon record the statement of senior BJP leader and former finance minister Jaswant Singh. Mr Singh was heading the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue of limited mobility and unified licensing during the NDA regime.
According to sources, senior officials of the agency are in touch with the BJP leader and his statement will be recorded any moment. “Recording the statement of Mr Singh will part of the agency’s probe under the preliminary enquiry (PE),” sources said.
The PE has been registered with to ascertain whether or not the provision of “first-come-first-serve” for granting spectrum licences was followed. “Statement of Mr Singh is expected to be recorded in a day or two, maximum by September 15. The agency officials are scrutinising minutes of the meetings held by former telecom ministers which includes late Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and Dayanidhi Maran”, sources said. The agency officials are also analysing certain observations made by the Justice Shivaraj V. Patil Committee, constituted to examine the appropriateness of the telecom policies and allocation of spectrum from 2001 to 2009, on spectrum allocation made during Mr Maran, Mr Shourie and late Pramod Mahajan tenure. nitial probe by the agency has revealed that norms related to allocation of additional spectrum were allegedly violated during NDA regime.