Vahanvati says 2G press note cleared by him was altered

NEW DELHI: Attorney General G E Vahanvati on Tuesday told a parliamentary panel probing the 2G case that a press note which he had cleared for inviting application for spectrum allocation in 2008 was altered before its release, sources said here.

Vahanvati, who appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam, said that the Telecom department (DoT) had shown him a press note which he had approved.

He is understood to have told the Committee that the press note finally issued a couple of days later had some of the content missing.

The sources said Vahanvati informed the panel that he had made a similar deposition before the CBI. He is learnt to have said that he had no role in the release which was finally issued by the DoT.

The country's top law officer was asked to appear before the committee as he was the Solicitor General when the 2G licenses were issued and he had appeared for certain cases on behalf of DoT in various courts including telecom tribunal TDSAT.