Swamy demands CBI probe into spectrum issue

CHENNAI: Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Saturday demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of spectrum by the Union Telecom Ministry.

The practice of "first come first serve basis," on which the licences were allotted, had been done away by the previous NDA regime, while the "Delhi High Court had rejected it as arbitrary and biased in 1994," he told reporters here.

"Further, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had last year said at a FICCI conference that henceforth government will only auction licences. But Union Telecom Minister Raja has ignored all these," he said claiming that the move had caused a loss of upto Rs 50,000 crore to the government.

"The licence fee of Rs 1,650 crore was based on the 2001 national subscriber base of 40 lakh while the present subscriber base in around 35 crore," he said.

He claimed that operators Swan and Unitech, which were allocated spectrum, had no experience in telecom field. "All the six awardees had sold the share of their telecom companies to foreigners at eight times the share value," he alleged.

Claiming that spectrum allocation had caused heavy loss to the government, Swamy demanded that the Prime Minister order a CBI probe into the matter.

"I will move the court if Singh did not order CBI probe," he said. On the Malegaon blast probe, he faulted the government for "selectively leaking" inquiry details and sought a CBI investigation to "ensure a fair probe."

On the spat between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and his estranged grandnephews, the Marans, Swamy said the former was "politicising" his family affairs in a bid to divert attention from other issues.