2G accounting imbroglio: more likely to emerge at meet today
16 Nov 2011
The chairman of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) looking into the 2G spectrum scam, Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP, is expected to answer allegations of his influencing the report of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India on the losses incurred through the cheap sale of spectrum later today, when he speaks at a function in New Delhi where both CAG Vinod Rai and his former lead auditor R P Singh are expected to be present.
Singh has publicly contradicted the official CAG report pegging the loss to the exchequer from the cheap sale of spectrum in 2008 at Rs1,76,000 crore. Deposing before a Joint Parliamentary Committee, another parliamentary body looking into the spectrum issue, on Monday, Singh put the losses at Rs2,645 crore – a fraction of the official CAG estimate.
According to reports emerging on Tuesday, Joshi pushed the CAG to speed up the 2G audit report before it was tabled in the winter session of Parliament last year. In an internal note dated 13 July 2010, Sinha, director general, report central (RC) in the CAG's office, wrote that he got a call from Joshi to speed up the report.
In his deposition before the JPC on Tuesday, CAG Rai rebutted all allegations of trying to influence Singh or coercing him into signing the report. He said that the first audit was done by Singh himself; and it pointed out to a loss of Rs1,02,000 crore from the under-pricing of spectrum. However, few details have emerged about the actual contents of his deposition. (See: 2G: CAG to defend loss estimate of Rs1.76 lakh cr before JPC today)
A letter written by Sinha to deputy CAG Rekha Gupta, accessed by sections of the media, says there is tremendous pressure on Joshi from Parliament and the media about investigations being done by the PAC into the issue.
The probe if further delayed would provide an opportunity to the executive for a cover-up, it reads.
Congress leader and spokesperson Digvijaya Singh said on Tuesday, "Joshi must answer what he was trying to do."
