Shourie goes to CBI office for questioning

NEW DELHI - Former communications minister Arun Shourie arrived at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters Friday morning for questioning in the 2G spectrum scam.

Shourie, who held the communications portfolio between January 2003 and May 2004, will be questioned on his role in awarding licences to operators on a first come-first-served basis and other crucial telecom policy decisions taken by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

“The government is trying to divert attention, there is nothing wrong with the first-come-first-served policy. Making money is the issue, not first-come-first-served, Shourie told reporters before entering the CBI office for questioning.

The bigger leaders were sleeping, no one saw where the spectrums were going. They are now creating a red herring to divert attention from the issue, a confident Shourie said.

I took over the ministry in 2003, I have documents from 2001 which elaborate the first-come-first-served policy. Journalists don’t examine the documents, and Kapil says something and you start following him, he said attacking present Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.

However, going against the popular Bharatiya Janata Party line on the CBI being a government tool, Shourie said he believed it was an honest organisation.

CBI, in my view, is an honest organisation. I am very happy the Supreme Court has taken the matter in hand, he said.

‘Is shadi me hum ladke wale hai, mujhe koi hijab nahi ki kahan jana hai…’(We are from the groom’s side in this wedding, I have no veil on where I am going), he added.

The scam relates to alleged irregularities in the allocation of second generation (2G) spectrum to telecom companies.