gooddagui: Tata 'candid' in corruption probe

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Tata 'candid' in corruption probe

Ratan Tata is one of the most well known and influential businessmen in India

Indian MPs who questioned Ratan Tata in connection with an alleged telecoms scam, said the industrialist was "candid" in his responses.

The head of the panel MM Joshi said Mr Tata "answered clearly and very openly".

Mr Tata and other business leaders are being questioned on the controversial award of telecoms licences in 2008.

He was quizzed in a closed session on Monday. Reliance's Anil Ambani is due to be questioned on Tuesday.

Police say that when the 122 new telecoms licences were issued, several rules were violated and bribes were paid to favour certain firms.

Several of the licences were issued to firms with no experience in the telecoms sector in a process described by an auditor's report as lacking transparency and "undertaken in an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner".

Auditors estimate the country may have lost $40bn (£24.5m) when the licences were sold for a fraction of their real value.

Correspondents say this could be the biggest corruption scandal to hit India. The country has the world's fastest growing mobile market, with more than 700 million subscribers.

The telecoms ministry is considering whether to cancel some 85 licences that the audit report says were issued to firms which were ineligible for them.

Mr Tata was questioned about a subsidiary company's involvement in bidding for the licences.

Neither he nor his company have been charged with any offence.

"I must say Ratan Tata was very candid. He answered clearly and very openly. He informed the committee that he was apprehensive about facing it. But his was a professional discussion," news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Mr Joshi as saying.

Wherever Mr Tata was not sure of something, he promised to get back to the committee in "a day or two", he added.

Reports said Mr Tata was questioned for three hours.

Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, who also appeared before the committee on Monday, was described by Mr Joshi as being "evasive".

The telecoms scandal, the latest in a series of corruption scandals to hit India, has damaged the credibility of the Congress-led government and its leader, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

On Saturday, Andimuthu Raja, who was telecoms minister at the time of the auction, was charged with conspiracy, forgery and fraud.

He denies any wrongdoing. Last year he was forced to resign over the issue. He was later arrested and is in jail.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.