New Delhi: Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on Wednesday claimed that he was being made a scapegoat in the 2g spectrum allocation scam. Opposing framing of charges against him in the 2G spectrum case, Behura blamed the Union Cabinet for the scam.
"The entire Cabinet has collective responsibility for the policy that was formulated. The Government has publicly defended the policy. Why am I being made a scapegoat?" Behura's lawyer Aman Lekhi told Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge OP Saini.
"I am a bureaucrat. I had no role in formulating the policy. My job was only to implement the policy framed by the Government. First it has to be decided whether the policy was bad. Only then can we talk about someone's misconduct. But deciding whether a policy is correct or not is outside the purview of this court. This court is not competent to analyse policy decisions. I'm being falsely penalised," Behura pleaded.
Behura also dragged in Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and former finance secretary and present Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao into the scam.
"on December 4, 2007 a meeting was called to discuss entry fee. At this meeting then finance secretary D Subbarao raised objection that fee should be hiked. DS Mathur (former telecom secretary) defended the existing fee. Chidambaram (who was the finance minister) was present in this meeting. If an objection was raised matter should have gone to Cabinet. But Subbarao withdrew objection and subsequently a note was issued approving the entry fee policy which was signed by all present. Behura only followed this approved policy. The allegation is that loss was caused because of this low entry fee. If people who approved it are witness how can the man who implemented their decision be an accused?" argued Behura's lawyer.
Behura was arrested on February 2, 2011 for his alleged involvement in the 2G scam. Under the first chargesheet filed in April 2, he is accused of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct by a public servant.
Behura began his submissions on Wednesday after former telecom minister A Raja concluded his arguments opposing the framing of charges on Tuesday.
Raja, in his arguments, had tried to drag in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram.
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