Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Second Indian minister under investigation in telecom scam

A former telecom minister, A. Raja, is already in jail in connection with a scam

India's top investigation agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, told the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday that it is investigating another former telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran, in connection with alleged irregularities in the working of the communications ministry.

Maran, who was telecom minister between 2004 and 2007, is alleged by the CBI to have coerced the promoter of mobile operator Aircel to sell his stake to Maxis Communications in Malaysia, by delaying clearances of spectrum to Aircel, according to local newspaper reports.

His successor, A. Raja, was arrested in February after the CBI charged him with involvement in the alleged out-of-turn allotment of 2G licenses and spectrum in 2008.

The Supreme Court had instructed the CBI to broaden the scope of its investigation from the out-of-turn allocations in 2008, to also include the allotment of licenses and policy changes by the telecom ministry from 2001.

Maran, who is currently minister for textiles in the federal government, has previously denied the charges against him.

The latest investigation by the CBI into Maran suggests that the irregularities in the telecom ministry may have preceded the 2008 scam.

The irregular allocations of 2G licenses and spectrum to some Indian operators in 2008 may have cost the country about US$39 billion, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) that was presented to Parliament in November.

The 2G licenses were issued in 2008 at prices that prevailed in 2001, the CAG said. Department of Telecommunications (DOT) went ahead and issued the licenses in 2008 without an auction, even though other government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance had asked it to review the decision, it added.

Some of the alleged beneficiaries of the 2008 allotment, mainly real-estate companies, sold stakes in their mobile ventures to multinational mobile operators like Telenor and Etisalat at prices much higher than they had paid to DOT for licenses and spectrum.

Maran and Raja both belong to the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, a coalition partner of the ruling Congress party in the federal government. Another top leader of the party, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, was arrested in May.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Auditor General, IDG, Maxis, Telenor
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Central Bureau of Investigation, legal, government, Regulation, Telecommunication, telephony
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Prepare Your Enterprise for the Mobile Revolution: Boost the Bottom Line with Mobile UC
    This white paper will highlight the changes in the mobile workplace; outline the benefits of unified communications (UC) and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) for mobile workers; identify the key market trends and business challenges IT managers must pay attention to now and into the future; and offer best practices for choosing a solution that will deliver clear ROI.
    Learn more »
  • IDC Insight: V-Ray Gives Symantec NetBackup a Competitive Advantage Today and into the Future
    Over a decade ago, Veritas software announced NetBackup FlashBackup to address the millions of small files problem, which had been and often remains the nemesis to fast and efficient backup of large file servers. Today, the FlashBackup technology is used to provide a logical understanding of what is stored with a VMDK- or VHD-image-level backup, without the necessity to install an agent inside each virtual machine. Read more.
    Learn more »
  • IBM zEnterprise System Brings Hybrid Computing Capabilities to Midsize Organisations
    This paper focuses on the IBM z114 cross-tier solution, which brings IBM AIX Unix and Linux workloads into the mix, with Microsoft Windows support to follow in the future. This blended approach to computing allows workloads running on any of those operating systems to communicate more quickly and effectively with the System z, producing business benefits from the orchestration, or coordination, of management for all of the workloads running across all of the linked platforms.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments