Ex−CAG official questions 2G loss figure

New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Questioning the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) figure of 2G allocation losses of Rs.1.76 lakh crore, former CAG official R.P. Singh Friday said he was merely asked to sign the report and that the “presumed losses” were recoverable.

“This loss figure (of Rs.1.76 lakh crore) did appear before me in a draft audit report submitted by my field office. I discussed it with them. I asked for supporting documents… on what basis they were saying these are losses. They said, ‘We are taking it as presumption’,” Singh told news channel CNN−IBN.

“I said in a performance audit that there was nothing called presumption loss. So I deleted this figure and while forwarding my version of the report, I clearly mentioned why I deleted the figure. It seems that at the time of examination in the CAG office, the loss figures were restored,” he added.

Singh further said that the loss figure as per his report was around Rs.37,000 crore and that the amount was recoverable.

“These were presumptive losses; you can dispute these as they are not the actual losses,” Singh said.

Singh, the former director general, post and telecommunications at CAG, has said that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi may have influenced the 2G report.

The BJP, however, alleged that Singh was a “pawn in the hands of the Congress party and government”.

Joshi said: “Why didn’t R.P. Singh take up this matter while he was in the CAG? After retirement he is making such claims. It is a campaign to malign the CAG and the PAC,” said Joshi.

However, Singh said he had not said anything new and all the information was in public domain.

“I am not revealing anything new. Some newspaper has made a lead story on old information and I have not said anything new,” said Singh.

The opposition has attacked the government on the presumptive loss on 2G spectrum allocation.

IANS 2012-11-23 15:50:25