Bribes, Lies & Radia Tapes: The Full Rundown on 2G Spectrum ‘Scam’

All 17 accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja, have been acquitted of all charges by Judge OP Saini.

In a new twist to the 2G spectrum scam, the 17 accused in the case were acquitted of all charges by a special CBI court in New Delhi on Thursday, 21 December.

“I have absolutely no hesitation in holding that prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any accused,” said CBI Judge OP Saini, acquitting former telecom minister A Raja, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and 15 other accused.

The trial in the 2G spectrum scam, which cost the-then Manmohan Singh-led UPA government heavily, began in 2011 after the court had framed charges against the 17 accused. All the accused in these cases had consistently denied the charges levelled against them.

Deemed as second in magnitude only to the Watergate Scandal (according to TIME magazine), the 2G spectrum scandal not only brought down the UPA II government, but ‘exposed’ a gross abuse of power, as the ‘collusion’ of businessmen, journalists and political leaders emerged in the case.

The scam took centre-stage after the Supreme Court issued notices to then Telecom Minister A Raja and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 13 September 2010, following a PIL filed by two activist groups and independent journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, which claimed that the exchequer had borne a loss of Rs 70,000 crore due to the 2G spectrum allocation.

The other two petitioners were the then-general secretary of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Prashant Bhushan, and the former secretary of NGO ‘Telecom Watchdog’, Anil Kumar.