With the debate over the real loss incurred in the 2G spectrum allocation scam reviving, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai will on Tuesday depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the scam.
Rai would appear before the JPC for cross-examination a day after RP Singh, one of the key authors of the controversial telecom audit report by the CAG, told the Committee that the presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the radiowave allocation was only a “mathematical guess” and inconclusive.
Singh, former director general of audit, posts and telecommunication, told members of the multi-party Parliamentary probe panel yesterday that the loss suffered in the sale of scarce radiowave spectrum was only Rs 2,645 crore.
CAG to explain 2G scam ‘loss’ to JPC today
According to JPC chairman PC Chacko, Singh explained to the Committee that his figure of calculating the loss of Rs 2,645 crore was based on opinion as the entry fee decided in 2001 was not revised in 2008.
His figure was based on inflation rate of seven years, Chacko said.
Singh, who was supervising the telecom audit, told the JPC that he had not quantified in his draft report the losses due to non-auctioning of telecom spectrum because it was “unsolicited”.
Singh told the JPC that loss suffered due to the 2G scam could not be calculated because the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had never recommended the auction of the second generation spectrum.
“He was categoric it was never possible to calculate the losses,” said Chacko.
The JPC chairman said that Singh was of the opinion that “to show presumptive loss in the 2G report is to bring in individual judgement which is questionable and presumptive loss is a mathematical guess”.
Singh also maintained that revenue optimisation and calculating presumptive loss was “not an audit objective” and it was added later.
CAG to explain 2G scam ‘loss’ to JPC today
Singh had prepared a draft audit report on the 2G telecom pricing in which he hadn’t quantified the exact financial losses due to lack of auctioning of spectrum, but observed that the 2001 pricing policy was not ‘realistic’ in 2008 when the telecom sector had boomed.
The draft report dated May 31, 2010, is now with Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that oversees government’s spending and also examines the CAG reports.
Chacko said Singh signed the final controversial telecom audit report of 2008 because “he was asked to do so by his seniors”.
Singh said he was kept away when the audit report was finalised and he had objected to the points on which he differed. “He was asked to sign the report. He was asked to sign the last page of the report,” Chacko stressed.
