INDIAN CONGRESS PARTY CORRUPTION PARTY LAST 5YEAR SCANDELS TELECOMS LICENCES Mr Raja denies having undersold licences to mobile phone firms In February 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecommunications licences awarded to companies in 2008. The licences were issued by former minister Andimuthu Raja, who is accused of mis-selling bandwidth in what has been called Indias biggest corruption scandal. He is alleged to have issued the frequency licences on a first-come, first-served basis instead of auctioning them. Mr Raja denies wrongdoing. In March last year, a former aide of Mr Raja, who owned a real estate company, committed suicide . Auditors estimate the alleged mis-selling of the licences cost the exchequer nearly $40bn (£24.5bn) in lost revenue in what some analysts are calling Indias biggest ever scandal . The scandal has claimed two other politicians: Mr Rajas colleague in the southern DMK party, MP , was arrested last year in connection with the scandal; and Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran resigned last year following allegations that he coerced the founder of the mobile phone firm Aircel to sell off his stake to a firm favoured by the minister. He denies the allegation. Police have also questioned business leaders , TV bosses and political figures in connection with the alleged scam. ARMY BRIBERY ROW In March 2012, army chief Gen VK Singh said a defence industry lobbyist had offered him a bribe of $2.7m (£1.7m) if the army bought hundreds of trucks that the general considered sub-standard. The generals allegation, made in an interview with The Hindu newspaper , provoked outrage in parliament and Defence Minister AK Antony promised an investigation. He acknowledged the general had come to him with the allegation more than a year earlier and asked for a written complaint. The general did not put the complaint in writing and both men seemed to have dropped the matter. Two days after the interview came out, a letter from Gen Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining that Indias defences were largely obsolete and woefully inadequate was leaked, provoking more outrage in parliament. This, despite a multi-billion dollar procurement drive in recent years to modernise the armys equipment. Analysts say the modernisation drive has been hampered by a lack of planning and acrimony between the military and the defence ministry. WIKILEAKS: CASH FOR VOTES There have been protests against the perceived rising tide of sleaze There was uproar in Indias parliament on 17 March 2011 after a leaked cable from the whistle-blowing Wikileaks website described how a senior Congress aide showed a US embassy official chests of cash allegedly used to bribe MPs to support the government in a crucial vote of confidence in 2008. The vote was over a controversial deal between India and the US which paved the way for India to massively expand its nuclear power capability. The governments left-wing allies withdrew support, but Congress narrowly survived the vote. Opposition parties at the time accused the government of offering cash for votes. The Congress party and all of those named in the cable deny the allegations. The leak came just days after a new report by consultancy KPMG said that corruption threatened Indias growth . It said that it wasnt simply the daily diet of petty bribes that hold back the economy, but the huge scams where billions of dollars are allegedly siphoned off by government and industry. In July 2011, two people - a politicians aide and a political activist - were arrested in connection with the scandal. The Supreme Court criticised the police for carrying out a shoddy probe. A senior MP, Amar Singh, was also questioned after he was accused of offering to bribe opposition MPs to abstain from the vote. He denies the allegation. ANTI-CORRUPTION CHIEF FORCED OUT In early March 2010 the head of Indias anti-corruption watchdog, PJ Thomas, was forced to resign by the Supreme Court on the grounds that he himself faces corruption charges. The decision was
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:11:49 +0000
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