Industrialist Ratan Tata deposed before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Monday, in connection with the 2G scam, and informed the committee that any suggestion that he had influenced the formation of telecom policy or the Union Cabinet was ?an exaggeration.? In a three-hour deposition, which committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi called ?candid and forthcoming?, Tata admitted that he had been ?apprehensive about appearing before the committee? but his apprehensions now appeared unfounded.

?It would be an exaggeration to think that I or Niira Radia can manipulate policy or get Cabinet berths for anyone,? a PAC member, who declined to be identified, quoted Tata as saying.

Tata was asked whether he agreed with the CAG estimate of the loss from the 2G scam, to which he said that he could neither ?confirm nor corroborate? it. ?I have also been a victim of government policies,? he is reported to have said.

Tata?s deposition had been preceded by a testy one by Vaishnavi Communications chief Radia, who had deposed for the committee earlier in the day. Tata admitted that the voice on the now infamous ?Radia tapes? was his, and he had in fact written a letter to Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi praising former telecom minister A Raja.

DMK member Tiruchi Shiva, a member of the PAC, came to Tata’s defence when the question of the letter came up. ?Why are we asking this question? Anyone can write to anyone in this country. In the federal structure, states also contribute to policy making at the Centre,? he is reported to have said.

Another major question asked of Tata was the Rs 1,700 crore payment made to Unitech. Tata, sources confirmed, said that the money had to be in the form of a loan which had been ?returned with interest.? He had been accompanied into his deposition by his associates Madhav Joshi and S Srinath, who answered many of the technical questions put to him. Tata, Joshi said, told the committee that he would be sending some answers later, if the committee found itself dissatisfied with his answers on Monday.

While Tata was praised for his ?candid? deposition by Joshi, his corporate communications advisor Radia was termed evasive. ?Most of Radi’a responses were evasive,? he said. Sources confirmed that she answered many of her questions by saying that ?she didn’t recall, couldn’t remember.? Significantly, Radia was made to wait for nearly an hour in the corridor outside Room number 52 of Parliament where the depositions were to take place. Ratan Tata, who had been ushered into the PAC chairman?s office for his turn was seen within 10 minutes of his arrival.

When asked about the conversations on the Radia tapes, she first said that many of the tapes had been ?taken out of context or doctored.? When pressed, she added that she hadn’t heard all the tapes and that she would ?ask the CBI for them and send the ones that she had heard to the PAC.?

Radia said that as a corporate communications person she didn’t share ?any particular relationship with Raja? although she had met Rajya Sabha MP K Kanimozhi many times. She added that it was her job to speak to journalists, politicians and corporate leaders.