In a statement, the Team Anna member said the Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister is not justified in allowing a huge loss being caused to the country for saving the government and continuing in offices

Noted lawyer and Team Anna member, Shanti Bhushan has said that after the recent judgement by the Supreme Court, neither Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh nor Home Minister P Chidambaram should be allowed to continue to be in the office.

In a statement, Mr Bhushan, who is also former Minister of Law, said, "The Special Judge has held that Chidambaram agree with the then Telecom Minister A Raja to sell spectrum in 2008 at the prices determined in 2001 even though the market value of spectrum in 2008 was bound to be many times higher owing to the stupendous growth in the telecom sector between 2001 and 2008."

Last week, the Supreme Court, in its order on cancellation of 122 2G telecom licenses has asked the government to seek fresh recommendations from TRAI on allocation of licences and spectrum by way of auction. The apex court has given the government a time-frame of four months to complete the process.

"He (the Judge) also held that the then Finance Minister's act of granting permission to licensees to transfer its equity in favour of other companies at a very high price, even if contrary to the terms of the license also did not, per se, make him (Mr Chidambaram) a party to a criminal conspiracy with Raja," the statement said.

The special judge further pointed out that while there was clear evidence against Raja and others facing trial about their involvement in the criminal conspiracy, similar evidence was lacking against Chidambaram. “In the absence of any other evidence so far, the special judge may be right in his order rejecting Swamy’s (Dr Subramanian Swamy) plea for making Chidambaram a co-accused,” the statement added.

In every case of conspiracy, actionable evidence emerges only after an investigation by an empowered and independent investigation agency. “It may be noted here that the CBI cannot independently investigate against Chidambaram as the Home Ministry controls the transfers, postings, promotions, suspensions and disciplinary proceedings of the IPS cadre members of the CBI,” the lawyer said.

Talking about the Dr Singh's role in the episode, Mr Bhushan said, "It is clear that the Prime Minister came to know of the facts and could have prevented the grant of licenses at 2001 prices. He could have dropped Raja from the government. His defense that the constraints of coalition politics did not permit him to intervene is no defense at all. This only implies that if he had intervened, his government might have fallen.”

Here is the statement issued by Mr Bhushan...