NEW DELHI: Sanjay Chandra, MD of Unitech Pvt Ltd, accused in the 2G spectrum case, on Tuesday told a Delhi court that the former Telecom Secretary D S Mathur was supporting old telecom operators.
Levelling serious allegations against Mathur, a key witness in the case, Chandra said he is favouring the old telecom supporters and their cartel and falsely deposing in the court at the behest of the CBI. The arguments were vehemently opposed by Mathur, who told Special CBI Judge O P Saini: “It is wrong to suggest that despite my protest against unjustifiable advantage in spectrum allocation to the old operators, I was supporting the old operators and was in favour of their cartelisation.”
He also denied the allegations that he was deposing falsely in the court at the behest of the probe agency to save himself from prosecution. During the cross examination, the defence counsel further stated that Mathur had retained a copy of a note recorded by erstwhile member (finance) in telecom commission Manju Madhavan in October 2007, which was in contravention of the Central Civil Services rules. To this, Mathur replied saying that the note was prepared by Manju, and he could produce a copy of the note if the court requires.
Clearing his role, Mathur told the court that during his tenure as the telecom secretary, about 25 licences were issued but no auction was held for them.
“During my tenure as secretary, Department of Telecom (DoT), no auction was held for issuance of 25 licences, issued during my tenure. I did not raise any objection regarding the entry fee during my tenure when the aforesaid about 25 licences were issued,” he said. On Monday, Mathur told the court that former Telecom Minister A Raja, accused in the case, had fixed the cut-off date for receiving new applications for 2G licences.
“It is wrong to suggest that the then minister A Raja did not change revise or alter the cut-off date. The decision of the minister was an administrative decision. It is wrong to suggest that the minister did not fix any cut-off date and he merely approved processing of applications received up to September 25, 2007,” he had said.