Go after corporates in 2G scam: SC to CBI

The bench also barred any other courts from passing any order in the 2G spectrum case which could impede investigations.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, responded to the court''s queries and said "we need sometime to come to the conclusion on what action is to be taken against the beneficiaries. "We have enlarged the scope of investigation. Give us month''s time to report on how much we information we have unearthed about the beneficiaries". However, he assured the Bench that the CBI will file the first chargesheet about its investigation into the scam that took place during the regime of A Raja by March 31, 2011. The Bench asked the agency to get the chargesheet vetted by it before filing it in the designated court. "We will scrutinise the draft chargesheet before it is filed in the special court," the Bench said and asked the Government to constitute a special court exclusively for this case so that the result of the trial come out in a time-frame. "Government must come out with an assurance that it will set up an exclusive court for this case," the bench said adding that "there is no parallel to this case and we want authorities concerned to give it a top priority". Attorney General G E Vahanvati assured the court that within two weeks he will inform the outcome after consulting the authority concerned.
The bench directed that during the pendency of the case before it "no other courts shall pass any order which in any way impede the investigation". "We must ensure that the case must lead to its logical conclusion. CBI is right now answerable to this court and there is no question of anybody interfering with the investigation," it said. The Bench was critical of the role played by the banks in giving loans to the prospective licensees and the TRAI''s action of 2003 which triggered the scam. "What action you have taken against TRAI officials. Why it has not been done so far when you have mentioned in the status report that it was the TRAI decision of 2003 which triggered the scam," the Bench asked the agencies. When Venugopal read out the manner in which loans were given to various corporate houses before the allocation of licences, the Bench wondered how it was done without exactly scrutinising the applications. "What is intriguing is about the banks which were giving financial assistance did not find out about the type of transaction they are doing. One particular company which has nothing to do with this field (telecom) also got loan," the Bench said. "Surprisingly banks are rolling loans whatever be their waiver according to their internal guidelines. It looks quite intriguing", the court said. Also watch the accompanying video for CNBC-TV18's Siddarth Zarabi's analysis of the issue.