NEW DELHI:
BJP leader
Subramanian Swamy on Thursday condemned the special CBI's court's decision to acquit all accused in the
2G spectrum+
allocation case, alleging that the case was "sabotaged" by "corrupt" law officers who were not serious about carrying out their duties.
Read:
2G spectrum case judgement: What the court said in its verdict
"This is not a setback at all, its an aberration as the law officers were not serious on fighting against corruption. PM shoud take up fighting corruption on a war footing," Swamy told mediapersons at a press briefing.
Swamy, who first raised the issue of possible wrongdoing in the
UPA's 2G spectrum allocation in 2008, called the court ruling a "bad judgment" and reiterated his stance that the government should challenge it in a higher court.
Read:
2G scam case verdict: Who said what
"Today's judgment is a very bad judgement. It is at the very lowest level and not final. This must be appealed in higher court," he asserted.
The former Janata Party leader claimed he'd faced pushback from high-placed officials in the erstwhile UPA regime, due to which he approached the courts to get things moving.
"Back in 2008, I had written to
Manmohan Singh to sanction request to prosecute
A Raja on 2G case. But Singh took no action for months... Even now, there are many officers loyal to P Chidambaram. The finance ministry needs a purge," he said.
He also questioned the appointment of
Mukul Rohatgi as attorney general of India. He said that Rohatgi had previously represented many of those accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, and he had pointed that out several times to PM Modi.
"Former AG Mukul Rohatgi has welcomed this verdict, I had written to PM opposing his appointment as AG. Rohatgi had appeared for some of accused companies," Swamy said.
Earlier in the day, ex-telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja, his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP
Kanimozhi and other accused were acquitted by a special CBI court in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases.
Special CBI Judge O P Saini rued that despite having "religiously" devoted seven years to 2G scam cases, no "legally admissible evidence" was placed before him by the CBI.
Alluding to the Justice Saini's ruling, Swamy said, "Judge says earlier there was a lot of enthusiasm, but later it became worse and worse. Judge also said counsels were lackadaisical. This is a big condemnation of the government's controlling of the case."
Swamy also cautioned Congress against celebrating prematurely, as the judgment they were hailing as a vindication of its leaders and policies could very well be quashed by a higher court, as had happened with late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and other accused in a disproportionate assets case.
"Congis and Allies celebrated JJ HC acquittal. Then in SC got deflated. Same will be here (sic)," he said in a tweet earlier.
Previously described as India's biggest swindle, the scam emerged in 2010, when a report by the then Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai claimed that the 2G telecom spectrum allocation resulted in a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer.
The chargesheet filed by CBI brought the loss down to Rs 30,000-odd crore.
In a series of letters to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Swamy warned him about the scam and also filed a criminal complaint against Raja and others in the Supreme Court.
Swamy's complaint had sought their prosecution under several sections of IPC including 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 463 (forgery) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
