Monday, 20 December 2010

India PM 'happy' to face 2G panel

Manmohan Singh at Congress party meetingManmohan Singh has been accused of acting too slowly over the alleged scam
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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he has "nothing to hide" from an investigation into the sale of phone licences for a fraction of their value.

He told a party meeting he was ready to be questioned by a parliamentary panel in the so-called 2G spectrum inquiry.

Ex-telecoms minister A Raja, who resigned over the scandal, is expected to be questioned soon by India's top investigation agency, the CBI.

He has been accused of underselling phone licences by billions of dollars.

Mr Singh has rejected accusations that he acted too slowly to investigate the allegations against Mr Raja, whose premises were raided this month by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The winter session of the parliament was deadlocked over opposition demands for a joint inquiry, which the government has ruled out, saying "impartial" agencies were already investigating.

"I have nothing to hide from the public at all," Mr Singh told the ruling Congress party's first plenary session since 2006. Some 15,000 party members have attended the two-day conference.

He added he was writing to the chairman of a parliamentary committee, saying he would be happy to appear before it.

On Sunday, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi described corruption as a "disease spreading through our society".

She also unveiled a "five-point action plan" to fight sleaze.

The proposal includes fast-tracking graft probes against civil servants and politicians, state-funding of elections, greater government transparency and cutting back on politicians' discretionary powers to allot land.

Mr Raja is accused of issuing 2G licences on a first-come, first-served basis in 2008 instead of auctioning them, costing the government up to $37bn (£23bn) in lost revenue.

India has seen a slew of high-profile corruption investigations in recent months.

Organisers of the Delhi Commonwealth Games have been arrested on charges of swindling millions of dollars before the October event.

The Congress party last month ordered the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra to quit over his alleged role in a scam involving homes meant for war widows being given to relatives and bureaucrats.

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

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-south-asia-12035906

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