TRAI says Raja followed govt. policy on 2G spectrum allocation
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday gave a much needed boost to jailed former union telecom minister A Raja, when it said that Raja had followed government policy in the distribution of 2G spectrum allocation.
TRAI further stated that it is not possible to determine the losses caused by Raja's controversial handling of licenses in 2008.
The current set of developments is likely to pose problems Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating Raja and some of India's senior-most executives in the telecom sector for the 2G spectrum scam, who are now in Tihar Jail.
The CBI has said that in 2008, Raja conspired with some of the telecom companies to give them out-of-turn licences for mobile networks and accompanying second-generation or 2G spectrum. The CBI believes this cost India 30,000 crores. Experts believe that Mr Raja deliberately and greatly under-valued the licences to favour these companies.
In answer to the allegations made, Raja had claimed that he went strictly by the book, and that the Prime Minister and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram had signed off on his course of action.