India’s Supreme Court quashes 122 telecoms licences
NEW DELHI, Feb 2, 2012 (AFP) - India's Supreme Court Thursday scrapped 122 telecom licences awarded in a 2008 sale at the centre of a corruption scandal, further embarrassing the government and causing upheaval for the flagship sector.
Mis-selling of the second-generation (2G) mobile licences was estimated by the country's public auditor to have cost the treasury up to $40 billion in lost revenue.
The minister in charge of the sale, A. Raja, is currently on trial accused of fraud and cheating, one of several corruption cases to have buffeted the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Mis-selling of the second-generation (2G) mobile licences was estimated by the country's public auditor to have cost the treasury up to $40 billion in lost revenue
While the cancellation order re-opens a damaging episode for the government, there was a reprieve for Home Minister P. Chidambaram whom activists had wanted in- vestigated by a special court trying suspects in the case.
The Supreme Court declined to rule on the issue, saying it was up to a special court to decide if there was evidence against Chidambaram, who was finance minister at the time of the 2008 sales.
Raja, a member of the DMK, a regional party in the Congress party-led national coalition, is suspected of rigging rules over the sale of the licences to favour some firms in return for kickbacks.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who brought the case to the Supreme Court, welcomed the cancellations and fines for the telecom firms involved.