Swamy will get copy of file in 2 days: CBI to court

Subramanian Swamy close to nailing Chidambaram in 2G scam?

Are P. Chidambaram's days under the sun numbered? At least Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy believes so.

Swamy, who has kept the heat on the home minister with his allegation that Chidambaram was complicit in the 2G scam, on Tuesday approached the special court with a complaint that the CBI, despite a court order, is yet to give him a file of letters that he believes will implicate the home minister in the case.

The CBI, in turn, told special judge O.P. Saini that it would provide the file - containing correspondence between former telecom minister A. Raja (currently in jail in the 2G scam) and Chidambaram - to Swamy by Thursday. "The court heard my complaint. It (the CBI) has now promised to give me the file by 5 pm on Thursday," Swamy said after the court proceedings. "I will look over the document and then bring it to the court on the next day of hearing (December 3)."

The special court had on November 8 ordered the CBI to give Swamy the file, saying it was satisfied that he needed them to pursue his complaint in the 2G scam.

"Complainant (Swamy) has filed an application that the file relating to UASL policy regarding the sale of equity (lock-in period) was seized by the CBI," the court had said, in its order. "After hearing the complainant, I am satisfied that a copy of the aforesaid file would facilitate the prosecution of this case. Accordingly, the CBI is directed to supply a photocopy of the file to the complainant at the earliest."

A week later, Swamy told the court that the agency was dillydallying and was yet to provide him the file. "This file contains crucial information about share dilution, which is central to the Prevention of Corruption Act levelled against these accused. How can they claim that it is not traceable? One newspaper says that it has been moved around, another says something else. I'm worried that it might be tampered with," Swamy said.

CBI counsel A.K. Singh, however, told Swamy that the agency would provide him with the file once it has been found among tens of thousands of documents it had seized in connection with the 2G case. Swamy claims the file includes sufficient evidence to prove Chidambaram's involvement, including signing on spectrum guidelines regarding the dilution of shares and the sale of equity. He claims that it was Chidambaram who told Raja that he can permit Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless to offload shares to foreign firms Etisalat and Telenor, respectively, who had been blacklisted by the home ministry on separate occasions.

The CBI's chargesheet claims Shahid Balwa's Swan Telecom, which paid `1,537 crore for licences in 13 circles, was allowed to offload 45 per cent of its shares to UAEbased Etisalat for Rs.4,200 crore. The agency also claims Unitech Wireless offloaded 60 per cent of its shares to Norway-based Telenor for Rs.6,200 crore.