SPECTRUM HOARDING BIGGER SCANDAL

Ratan Tata says Radia tapes a smokescreen

RATAN Tata, the chairman of India's largest conglomerate, has described the media frenzy over the tape leaks featuring conversations between Niira Radia, the owner of a public relations agency, and prominent politicians, industrialists and journalists as a "smokescreen" which was deflecting attention from bigger scandals.
    In an interview with the broadcaster NDTV, Mr Tata suggests that the real scandal was out-of-turn allocation of spectrum and what he described as the "hoarding" of spectrum by some telecom companies.
    "There has been a smokescreen behind what is really the so-called scam, which really is out-of-turn allocation of spectrum, hoarding of spectrum by important players for free, and things of this nature," Mr Tata said.
    Niira Radia, whose agency handles public relations for the Tata Group and Reliance Industries, has been questioned by government agencies that are probing her alleged role in the award of a number of telecom licences in 2008. The government's chief auditor has said that these licences cost the exchequer 1,76,000 crore because they were sold at prices set in 2001. A Raja, the telecom minister when the permits were issued, was forced to step down earlier this month.
    In the interview, Mr Tata said the government should hold a proper investigation to book the guilty. "I wish the government would take a stand, bring order... have an investigation, book people who are guilty of something," Mr Tata said.
    A government agency has sent notices to nine telecom firms including Tata Teleservices, India's fourthbiggest mobile operator, over investigations related to the alleged multibillion dollar scam, media reports said. Book people who are guilty: Tata
IN remarks posted on the channel's website, Mr Tata criticised the media coverage of the tapes, saying it was a steep comedown from two weeks ago when US President Barack Obama backed India's bid for membership of the United Nations Security Council and praised India's achievements.
    "We have somewhat slipped into a morass of a series of allegations... unauthorised tapes flooding... the media going crazy on alleging, convicting, executing... literally character assassination.... I wish the government would take a stand, bring an auditor... have an investigation and book people who are guilty of something, but stop this sort of Banana Republic kind of attack on whoever one chooses to attack on a basis unsubstantiated, even before the person has a very Indian right — namely to be considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law."
    The tapes feature conversations between Ms Radia, Mr Tata and other industrialists, politicians and journalists. The tapes suggest that Ms Radia was lobbying for the continuation of Mr Raja as telecom minister after the 2009 elections.
    Last week, the Supreme Court criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for what the judges described as his delay in probing the scandal.
    The scandal has now engulfed Parliament as opposition parties have kept it shut since November 9 over demands to set up a joint parliamentary committee, or JPC, to probe the allotment of telecom licenses. The government has resisted this, saying investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, which probes violation of foreign exchange laws, were enough.
    The shutdown has weakened the government's ability to move key economic measures and delayed legislation in areas such as banking and mining, although the government is not at risk of collapsing.
    (The article is based on inputs
    from a Reuters report and
    from the website NDTV.com)