2G Verdict: How Leaders Reacted To The Acquittal Of All The Accused

A special CBI court on Thursday acquitted all the accused in the 2G spectrum scam. Pronouncing the judgement, Justice O P Saini quashed all charges against the accused, including prominent politicians A Raja and DMK MP K Kanimozhi.

The court pronounced its verdict in two cases. The first deals with money laundering and the second is related to corruption in spectrum allocation.

Reacting to the verdict Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters that there was a clear loss to the exchequer given the fact that subsequent auctions fetched a much higher price.

“The spectrum which were allocated at Rs 1734 crore per licencee fetched Rs 1.10 lakh crore and Rs 65,000 crore in subsequent auctions in 2015 and 2016, respectively,” he said.

“The policy was arbitrary and designed to promote corruption and implemented in unfair manner and was causing loss of revenue to government,” he said while recalling the Supreme Court verdict of 2 February 2012 in which 122 licences issued by Raja had been cancelled.

Jaitley also criticised the Congress for celebrating the verdict as "some kind of badge of honour and certification".

Reacting to the verdict earlier in the day BJP MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted: “Govt must prove its bonafides by filing an immediate appeal in High Court. [sic]”

At a press conference Swamy said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to now fight corruption on a war footing. “He should put out all of those not serious in fighting corruption. There are some in my party who are not serious,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Congress and DMK leaders and their respective supporters celebrated the verdict.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh called the judgement a proof that there was a “massive conspiracy” against the UPA government.

P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister at the time of the allocation, said that the verdict proves that the allegations at the highest levels of the government were “never true”.

DMK leader M K Stalin, who was among the first to praise the verdict, told The Hindu, "This was a politically motivated case. We are extremely delighted that everyone has been acquitted.” He also urged the media to give the judgement “visibility” in the same manner they did by blowing it up.

Kanimozhi, who was welcomed by loud cheers outside the Patiala House court by DMK supporters, said that the verdict is an answer to the problems faced by her party. She also said spoke to Rahul Gandhi who told her that the judgement was “a victory of truth”.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi demanded an apology from the media and BJP leaders for “treating accused as convicts”. The party’s spokesperson Tom Vadakkan demanded the prosecution of former CAG Vinod Rai.

"He (Vinod Rai) should be prosecuted by the law of the land for creating such kind of excuses and cover-ups. I think he should be prosecuted," Vadakkan told a private channel.

AAP leaders, on the other hand, questioned the investigation of the case by the CBI.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “2G scam is one of the biggest scams. It rocked the country n was one of the reasons for UPA’s downfall. Today everyone goes scot free. Did CBI mess up the case? Intentionally? People need answers. [sic]”

Delivering the verdict earlier today, the court remarked that the prosecution has “failed miserably” to prove its charges against the accused.

“Religiously sat in open court for the last 7 years from 10 am to 5 pm even during summer vacation awaiting for someone with legally admissible evidence. Not a single soul turned up,” Judge O P Saini said in the judgement.

After reading the 1552-page judgement, the CBI said it will appeal against it in the Delhi High Court. The Enforcement Directorate has already stated its decision to appeal against the verdict.

The CBI had in 2011 accused Raja and his private secretary R K Chandolia of changing the cut-off date of applications to benefit some telecom companies. The companies, too, were among the accused in the case.

In his defence, Raja had claimed that even the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and other top leaders of the UPA government were aware of the decisions taken during the spectrum allocation.

The verdict in the Rs 30,000 crore scam has received mixed reactions from quarters.

Raja was charged under various sections of the IPC including Section 409 which involves criminal breach of trust by a public servant and is punishable by life imprisonment. Kanimozhi was charged under Section 120B of the IPC, which is punishable by up to six months in prison.