India police arrests ex-telecoms minister over graft

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

Indian police on Wednesday arrested a former telecoms minister over a massive graft scam, officials said, a huge blow for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and efforts to pass bills in the parliamentary budget session.

Andimuthu Raja belongs to a parliamentary ally of the ruling Congress party and his arrest may spark tension between coalition partners and galvanize an opposition that has blocked parliament since November to protest the scandal over mobile phone licenses.

The sale of below-market price licenses, which a government audit says may have cost India up to $39 billion in lost revenues, is the biggest scandal to have hit India in decades.

A spokesman of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, told reporters that Raja was arrested "due to irregularities in the allocation" of mobile licenses and spectrum.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-india-telecoms-arrest-idUSTRE7113OJ20110202

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. Maybe the US should outsource its Justice Dept to India

France and Iceland.