A former government minister in India is among a dozen defendants charged in a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that has rocked the country's coalition government and investor confidence in Asia's third-largest economy, federal police said Saturday.
Andimuthu Raja, a former telecommunication minister, is accused of being involved in a scheme involving the underselling of cell phone licenses at the height of India's lucrative telecom boom.
Police have questioned several high-profile executives in connection with the suspected below-price sale of radiowaves in 2008. The firm of business tycoon Anil Ambani is among three companies named in the charge-sheet spelling out the accusations, said R.K. Gaur, spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate officials linked to the probe have denied any wrongdoing.
According to a government audit, the treasury lost as much as $31 billion from the 2008 sale of the second-generation wireless spectrum. The damning audit report came on the heels of allegations of massive fraud in sports and real estate.
A parliamentary committee is conducting a separate probe into the case; Ambani is scheduled to appear before it next week.
In February, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted opposition demands for a wider, cross-party investigation into the massive scandal that has rattled his administration, now in its second term. The investigation by federal police was already under way when he agreed to the parliamentary probe.
Investigators are already probing complaints of financial malfeasance in the Commonwealth Games that India hosted in October last year. Several politicians, military officials, and bureaucrats have also been the subjects of a separate inquiry for allegedly taking apartments meant for war widows.
Source: http://articles.cnn.com
Andimuthu Raja, a former telecommunication minister, is accused of being involved in a scheme involving the underselling of cell phone licenses at the height of India's lucrative telecom boom.
Police have questioned several high-profile executives in connection with the suspected below-price sale of radiowaves in 2008. The firm of business tycoon Anil Ambani is among three companies named in the charge-sheet spelling out the accusations, said R.K. Gaur, spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate officials linked to the probe have denied any wrongdoing.
According to a government audit, the treasury lost as much as $31 billion from the 2008 sale of the second-generation wireless spectrum. The damning audit report came on the heels of allegations of massive fraud in sports and real estate.
A parliamentary committee is conducting a separate probe into the case; Ambani is scheduled to appear before it next week.
In February, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted opposition demands for a wider, cross-party investigation into the massive scandal that has rattled his administration, now in its second term. The investigation by federal police was already under way when he agreed to the parliamentary probe.
Investigators are already probing complaints of financial malfeasance in the Commonwealth Games that India hosted in October last year. Several politicians, military officials, and bureaucrats have also been the subjects of a separate inquiry for allegedly taking apartments meant for war widows.
Source: http://articles.cnn.com
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