India's top investigation agency has registered a case against two major Indian mobile operators and former government officials in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of additional 2G spectrum in January 2002, widening the scope of its investigations into alleged scams in India's telecom sector.
The offices of the two mobile operators, Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, and Vodafone India, were also raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday, according to sources.
Vodafone confirmed in a statement that CBI officials had visited the company's offices in Mumbai and Delhi "seeking information related to the spectrum allocation to operators during 2001-02." Airtel was not immediately available for comment.
The CBI has been investigating the alleged irregular allocation of spectrum and licenses by the government in 2008, which has led to the arrest of a former communications minister A. Raja, a member of Parliament, business executives, and government officials.
The new investigations into Vodafone and Bharti Airtel is an offshoot of a Supreme Court order to the CBI that it should also investigate for irregularities in spectrum allocation from 2001 to 2007.
The CBI said on Saturday that it had filed a case under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the companies and government officials. It said it had not filed a case against the minister for communications at the time, Pramod Mahajan, as he is deceased.
The investigation in the 2008 spectrum and license allocations has proven to be an embarrassment to India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition. The CBI also registered a case in October against another former communications minister, Dayanidhi Maran on charges that he coerced the promoter of mobile operator Aircel to sell his stake to a company in Malaysia, by delaying clearance of spectrum.
The new investigations may however drag in the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its coalition partners who were in power in 2002.
Both Vodafone and Bharti Airtel have claimed that they were in compliance with regulations, and are cooperating with the investigations. CBI said further investigation in the case is in progress.
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
Comments
Satish Chandra said: For the full context of what is said below see WhatYouShouldKnowAboutRAWDOTblogspotDOTcom and GaddafiCrimeDOTblogspotDOTcom -November 17 2011 Integrated Circuit chips made in the United States are required to provide for access to the United States National Security Agency so it can monitor and take control of their operations at will Components and electronic equipment from the United States should be absolutely haram far from lamenting technology denial equipment from the United States should be rejected even if it is offered on a platter and free of charge as I have said Indias bought-up Defence Atomic Energy Space and other officials deliberately close their eyes to this threat This also applies to U S- made civilian aircraft for example There are two hundred thousand Indian engineers and scientists working in Research amp Development for foreign companies in India but instead of putting its money in Research amp Development in my letter dated January 5 2004 to the press -- see my blog -- I had suggested one million Research amp Development workers in India in government-sponsored projects Indias CIA-RAW government buys foreign equipment in all fields to keep India poor weak and enslaved Indias government lends hundreds of billions of dollars to the U S government in exchange for worthless U S paper but seeks foreign investment and World Bank loans for projects in India giving ownership and control of India to Indias enemies despite the unlimited capital available to India by simply printing the money see How Indias Economy Can Grow 30 Per Year Or More in my blog as is described there the United States has been applying my proposal about money by stealth and now also openly but Manmohan Singh refuses to do so because this bugger -- a CIA appointee -- does what serves the United States not Indias interestsNovember 18 2011 When I say the new Chief of Air Staff N A K Browne is a CIA-RAW man I mean he literally sits at CIA-supplied terminals to participate in crimes against India More than a thousand Indian Air Force aircraft have crashed since 1970 the vast majority of the crashes caused by microwaves from U S satellites In his first week in office as Chief of Air Staff Browne caused two Indian Air Force fighter planes to crash with microwaves from satellites to give a boost to his bid to buy worse than worthless foreign aircraft for several tens of billions of dollars of which he will get a hefty cut along with the Defence Minister and the Italian woman who gets the largest cutI said on October 11 11 GaddafiCrimeDOTblogspotDOTcom that the suicide of the chief test pilot Baldev Singh was murder to facilitate the claim of the fraudulent delay in inducting the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft being used to justify the worse than worthless purchase abroad India builds Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft from raw materials why do you need to buy fighter aircraft from abroadN A K Browne A K Antony and the Italian woman should be booked for the murder of Baldev Singh along with the head of RAW All former heads of RAW should be booked for the murders of hundreds of Indian Air Force pilotsThe murders of several politicians by air crash have also been accomplished by microwaves from satellites A recent example was the murder of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister by air crash In my blog I have described how Indira Gandhi when prime minister in 1980 went to her kitchen with the then U S Vice President and former CIA Director George Herbert Walker Bush to arrange for the murder by air crash of her son Sanjay Gandhi who had taken to slapping her in the presence of others under my influence and the then CIA Director Frank Carlucci publicly claimed credit for that air crash via a letter that appeared in National ReviewI am Indias expert in strategic defence the father of Indias strategic program including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and the worlds greatest scientist my biography can be found in Marquis Whos Who in the World 2011 and earlier editions for more on the subject above see What You Should Know About RAW in my blog titled Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U S which can be found by a YahooGoogle search with the titleSatish Chandra