Anil Ambani comes out of Parliament after appearing before the public accounts committee on Tuesday. (Prem Singh)

New Delhi, April 5: Anil Ambani today avoided answering most of the questions from the public accounts committee (PAC) on the 2G case saying the matter was sub-judice, panel chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi said.

The Reliance Communications chairman pleaded with the PAC at the outset that his company had been named by the CBI in the 2G chargesheet and, hence, should not be compelled to answer any question as whatever he said could be used against him in court.

Although the industrialist responded to some questions with clarity, to others he said the court was looking into the matter, Joshi said at a news conference this evening.

In response to some other queries, Ambani said he had forgotten and would get back after checking documents. At this, Joshi said he had asked the businessman: “You have every information on your fingertips, how come you don’t remember a chosen few?”

According to other PAC members, Ambani was quizzed on policy matters, the first-come-first-served basis of awarding spectrum, excess spectrum with service providers, dual technology and second and third generation (2G and 3G) services in addition to his alleged links with Swan Telecom.

The PAC also questioned the top brass of Telenor, S-Tel and Etisalat on matters related to the allotment of spectrum by former communications minister A. Raja. Both the CAG and the CBI have named these firms.

Among those questioned were Etisalat’s Atul Jhamb, Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, Swan Telecom’s Vinod Goenka, S-Tel’s V. Srinivasan and Telenor’s Charles Woodworth. “We told them that as per the CAG, some of the companies should not have got the spectrum and licences. They gave their replies. We will investigate the matter,” Joshi said.

“Some of the answers were not in tune with the findings of the CAG. They have promised to give us some answers in writing,” the BJP leader said.

Telenor’s Woodworth said the committee had asked “all sorts of questions” but he gave detailed explanations to all of them. “We presented them with the truth. We were asked why we invested in India. We said we have nothing to hide,” Woodworth told reporters after the session. Joshi also said the Telenor chief was the most transparent and forthcoming, but the others did not give the full picture.

Joshi said the panel had decided to send a notice to Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari for his statement that the BJP should rein in the PAC chairperson. But today, Tiwari again asked the BJP to introspect on the PAC’s move to examine policy matters and decide if its demand for a JPC was just a political stunt.