India to charge suspects in telecoms case

Charges are to be brought against India’s former telecoms minister and two companies suspected of corruption by the end of March, the country’s investigating authorities have told the Supreme Court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation said that it was preparing charges against Andimuthu Raja, the former minister, for his alleged role in a corruption scandal that an official audit claimed had lost the national exchequer an estimated $39bn in revenues in the auction. The levelling of charges represents an escalation in the response to a scandal that has deeply embarrassed the government and blemished the record of Manmohan Singh, the prime minister. Raja resigned last year amid a furor over the Congress party-led government’s controversial handling of the award of 2G mobile telephone licences in 2008, but he denies any wrongdoing.