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Attorney General G E Vahanvati on Wednesday told a Delhi court that former Telecom Minister A Raja's letter to the prime minister regarding the DoT's policy to be adopted for 2G spectrum allocation was not based on discussion with him and the then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
He said the contents of Raja's December 26, 2007, letter to the PM regarding discussion with him as the then solicitor general and Mukherjee on the policy were "not correct".
"It is wrong to suggest that what was communicated to the prime minister as future course of action was based on the discussion with the then minister for external affairs (Mukherjee) and me.
"The contents of this letter to the effect that 'the discussions with the minister for external affairs and solicitor general of India have further enlightened me to take further preemptive and proactive decisions on these issues' are not correct," Vahanvati, who was deposing as a witness in the 2G spectrum case, told Special Judge O P Saini during his cross examination by Raja's counsel Sushil Kumar.
On being shown an annexure appended to the letter by Special Public Prosecutor U U Lalit, Vahanvati clarified that the issues mentioned in it were not discussed in the meeting in the first week of December 2007 with Mukherjee.
"I wish to clarify that the issues mentioned in the annexure to this letter were not discussed with the then minister for external affairs during the meeting as referred to by me above. I also wish to add that what is being referred to in this annexure as being concurred by me had not been concurred by me," he said.
Vahanvati's statement assumes significance as the CBI, in its chargesheet, had alleged that Raja had written the letter to the PM on December 26, 2007, and had "intentionally and deliberately misrepresented the facts about first-come-first serve policy..."