RBI governor deposes in Delhi court in 2G spectrum case

RBI governor deposes in Delhi court in 2G spectrum caseD Subbarao, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deposed in a Delhi court as a witness for prosecution the 2G case.

He said that he had raised questions over the spectrum fee of around Rs 1600 crore for a pan Indian license in the 2007 auction. Subbarao was working as Finance Secretary from April 2007 to September 2008 and is a key witness in the case.

He said that he had written a letter on November 22, 2007 to D S Mathur, who was working as Telecom Secretary at that time, raising questions over the price of the license in the auction process. He has asked as to how the spectrum fees of Rs 1,600 crore can be used in 2007 as it was set much earlier in the year 2001.

CBI prosecutor A K Singh has showed various files and notes from several departments including that of Department of Telecom and Ministry of Finance to Subbarao at the time of the recording of his statement in the case.

The Supreme Court of India had scrapped the validity of all 122 spectrum licenses in February that were granted to telecom firms during the former communications minister A Raja's time in office. The court cancelled all the licenses on the ground they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner.