Top two Indian telcos under investigation

Indias federal investigation agency has registered a case against the countrys two top telecom companies and a former Telecom Secretary for alleged irregularities in the allocation of spectrum during 2001 to 2003 when the late Pramoj Mahajan was telecom minister. The Central Bureau of Investigation also carried out raids at the offices of Vodafone in Mumbai and Airtel in Gurgaon and residences of former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and several other officials. According to the Press Trust of India, Ghosh has been charged with conspiracy, criminal misconduct and abusing official position. The CBI alleges that during Pramod Mahajans tenure, Ghosh and some other officials gave additional spectrum at low revenue share to companies like Vodafone and Bharti Airtel. The raids comes after the Supreme Court of India ordered a probe into the allocation of spectrum between 2001 and 2007. Earlier, the CBI filed a case against another former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran for his alleged role in the Aircel-Maxis deal during his tenure.

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1 week ago
2G spectrum scam2G scam2G spectrumPramod MahajanDayanidhi Marana rajaCBIAirtelVodafone

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Trouble at the top of Indias telecom ministry

An Indian court last week sentenced former Telecom Minister Sukhram to a five-year prison term for taking a bribe of $5,800 for a contract to a private firm in 1996. The court had convicted Sukhram for misusing his official position as telecom minister in 1996 to award a contract worth $5.8 million to a private telecom firm Haryana Telecom Ltd. (HTL) for supply of cables to the telecom department after receiving a bribe of $5,800, the Times of India reported. The news of Sukhrams sentencing coincided with raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation at the offices of the countrys top two telecom companies. Click here to read more
1 week ago
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2G case trial gets underway

A trial on Indias 2G spectrum scandal case began Friday in a lower court. Indias federal investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, will present as many as 13 senior

Reliance ADAG group officials and 15 bank and other officials as witnesses in the first phase, according to Indian news portal Firstpost. The court previously ordered the CBI to to give Subramanian Swamy a copy of a file which contains all the correspondence between Indias Home Minister P. Chidambaram and former Telecom Minister A. Raja.
3 weeks ago
2G spectrum scam2G scam2G spectrumSWAN TELECOMReliance

CommunicationsAnil Ambani

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CBI directed to provide Chidambaram-Raja letters to Swamy

A special court Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to give Subramanian Swamy a copy of a file which contains all the correspondence between Indias Home Minister P Chidambaram and former Telecom Minister A Raja. The special CBI court deferred its hearing till December 3 on Janata Party President Subramanian Swamys plea to make Home Minister P Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum case. (Click here to read more)
3 weeks ago
2G spectrum scam2G scam2G spectrumSubramanian SwamyP ChidambaramCBI Probe

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Lokpal Bill, 2G Scam, and conflict of interest

According to a report by news channel, a large number of people who are either sitting in judgement or arguing the 2G case has, at one time or another, been associated with one of the telecom players. The report lists the following key players:

Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, as a lawyer has represented several companies including Nokia and Bharti. Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, served as a lawyer for T-Mobiles, Tata Teleservices, Lucent Technologies and Sterling. Current Home Minister, P Chidambaram, represented Motorola, USs Bellsouth and Luxembourgs Millicom. Congress spokesman, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, represented the Cellular Operators Association of India, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators, Bharti and Reliance. Indias current Solicitor General, Gopal Subramaniam has been a lawyer for the Cellular Operators Association of India and Hughes telecom. Current Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati has been a lawyer for the Cellular Operators Association of India, RPG and Usha Martin. Former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan has been a lawyer for Essar Telecom, USs Bellsouth and Luxembourgs Millicom.

Harish Salve, who served as the Solicitor General of India in the past, represented Reliance, Tatas and Vodafone.