CBI records Jaswant Singh’s statement

The CBI, which is probing alleged irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation and telecom licences during 2001-07 as per a Supreme Court order, has recorded the statement of senior BJP leader and former finance minister Jaswant Singh. HT reports.

The CBI, which is probing alleged irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation and telecom licences during 2001-07 as per a Supreme Court order, has recorded the statement of senior BJP leader and former finance minister Jaswant Singh.

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Singh, who headed the Group of Ministers (GoM) in 2003-04 on issues of limited mobility and unified licensing during the NDA regime, gave his statement as a “witness” to the CBI. Singh was quizzed for three hours at the CBI headquarters on Lodhi Road on Saturday.

The CBI’s initial probe has allegedly indicated to it that norms related to allocation of additional spectrum were violated during the NDA regime.

The CBI sought specific responses from Singh on the issue of the then GoM's recommendations on allocation of additional spectrum, and how were they implemented by the department of telecommunication under former telecom ministers during the NDA regime — late Pramod Mahajan and Arun Shourie.

Singh’s quizzing was part of the CBI’s probe to determine alleged irregularities during 2001-07 and to ascertain whether the policy of ‘first-come first-served’ for granting spectrum licences was followed by the predecessors of former telecom minister A Raja — Shourie, Mahajan and Maran.