2G Scam Trial A scam in itself Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi says the entire trial should be scrapped

The trial in the 2G scam has taken another shocking turn with allegations about Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lawyer’s alleged collusion with one of the accused Sanjay Chandra, the Managing Director (MD) of Unitech..The trial in the 2G scam has taken another shocking turn with allegations about Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lawyer’s alleged collusion with one of the accused Sanjay Chandra, the Managing Director (MD) of Unitech..The CNN – IBN investigation into the 2G case reveals that the CBI suspects its own prosecutor, A.K. Singh of aiding the accused. The CBI has registered a Preliminary Enquiry report, naming the lead 2G Prosecutor A.K. Singh and Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra..As per the CNN-IBN report, the CBI possesses audio recordings with the suspected voices of Singh, Chandra and a third person discussing the legal strategy to be used in the 2G trial. In the audio recording, which lasts for about 17 minutes, a voice suspected to be that of Singh is heard advising Chandra on how to defend himself in the case and “muddle up” the proceedings..The audio clips of the alleged conversations between Singh and Chandra, is yet to be confirmed by a forensic report, but if it turns out to be genuine, it will undoubtedly have have serious consequences on the trial..Bar & Bench spoke to Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi on his reaction to this expose. Rohatgi said that he is shocked to see these kinds of things happening in quick succession and with alarming regularity. Rohatgi said that the same thing happened in the BMW case; it would appear that standards are falling in the legal profession and greed is overtaking professional duties..Talking about the impact of this expose on 2G trial, Rohatgi says, “Firstly, if such a conversation has happened between the two, then it is absolutely illegal, unprofessional and immoral. But from whatever I have read in the papers it’s still not very clear whether the tape is genuine or doctored. Assuming it is genuine, then entire trial should be scrapped according to me because the whole trial gets tainted and you don’t know from what point of time the taint has [seeped in]”..According to the CBI, the prosecutor shared legal strategy with the Unitech MD; consequently Singh has been removed from the case and the same has been intimated to the Chief Justice of India, the Central Vigilance Commissioner, the Law Ministry and the Department of Personnel and Training..On being asked the action that can be taken against Singh, Rohatgi says whether he is a prosecutor or ordinary lawyer, he should not be mixing up with the client of the other side. “It is unprofessional and it is against the rules of conduct under the Advocates Act. The lawyer can lose his license and even otherwise it could be a crime under the Indian Penal Code”, says Rohatgi..With respect to the larger issue about the independence of CBI in such high profile cases, Rohatgi said that, “The CBI should be independent. It is supposedly a premier body for investigation but I have not found it to be as independent as it should be. It should become an autonomous organisation like the CVC or there should be high-powered body, which should be fully autonomous even away from CBI, which should be used for prosecuting high profile cases”..As for the appointment of public prosecutors, Rohatgi observed that, “The public prosecutors should be appointed with great circumspection and not be treated as merely public servants”. Rohatgi also observed that the salaries given to public prosecutors are much lower that what a contemporary lawyer of the same age or standing would earn. “That is why even perfectly honest people get lured by greed etc, and that does not only apply to public prosecutors, but to government servants, bureaucrats and even judiciary. The salaries are totally out of sync with reality”, says Rohatgi..“All of us have to do some introspection”, concluded Rohatgi. “The lawyers must deal with clients professionally and charge professional fees and not look at other shortcuts to top up the fees by dubious methods”..It will be interesting to see how the CBI will now handle the 2G trial.