Investigators clear Tata Group in India's telecom scam

Jun 2, 2011, 12:02 GMT

New Delhi - Federal investigators in India on Thursday cleared Tata Telecom in its probe into a multi-billion dollar telecommunications corruption case involving licenses being awarded at throwaway prices.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told a New Delhi court that the company, which is part of the Tata Group, had committed no irregularities and not benefited from the 2008 scam.

'We've examined the issue in detail. There was no irregularity in the issuance of licenses to Tata Telecom,' the CBI said before the court.

The CBI submission came upon a petition which asked that Tata Group head Ratan Tata be made an accused in the case for benefiting from the scam.

The Tata Group is among India's oldest and the biggest business conglomerates.

India's former telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja and senior officials and executives of some of the country's biggest telecommunications companies have been detained in connection with the case. All have denied charges of conspiracy, forgery and fraud.

Raja resigned after a government auditor said the irregularities in allocation of licenses could have caused a loss of up to 39 billion dollars to the exchequer.