'2G report not mine, was told to sign it'

R P Singh, retired officer behind the CAG report, says his colleagues visited PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi at his residence on a gazetted holiday in 2011 to assist him with the panel's report on spectrum.

The officer behind the CAG's 2G spectrum audit has said he was told to sign off on the controversial report by CAG headquarters even though he did not agree with the report's findings.

R P Singh, former D-G, Post and Telecommunications at CAG, also said that CAG officials visited the residence of BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on a holiday to help him prepare the panel's report on the 2G spectrum allocation.

The PAC report was strongly critical of the roles played by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Attorney-General G E Vahanvati. About half the 21-member PAC, led by Congress members, rejected the report. On April 30, 2011, Joshi submitted the report to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar without their signatures, which the Speaker returned.

R P Singh told The Indian Express in a telephone interview that CAG officials had visited Joshi's residence on the Good Friday holiday on April 22, 2011.

"I got to know from my team members that CAG officials including senior CAG officials from headquarters went to the PAC chairman's residence and assisted him in preparing the PAC report. I cannot say with certainty what exactly transpired at the meeting," Singh said.

Asked if there was an attempt by the PAC chairman to influence the outcome of the CAG's 2G report before it was tabled in Parliament, Singh said "it appears" from a note prepared by R B Sinha, D-G at CAG headquarters, that there were "some telephone calls by the PAC chairman to access the 2G report which was under preparation".

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