THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested today the first company executive in a multi-billion dollar telecoms corruption scandal that has rocked the Congress-led government and undermined Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Shahid Balwa, managing director of DB Realty and vice chairman of Etisalat DB, was arrested over allegations two Indian telecoms firms got favourable treatment when licences were awarded in 2008 in the world’s fastest growing mobile market.
One of those companies was Swan, which has since been renamed Etisalat DB and is about 45 per cent owned by Etisalat.
Police suspect government officials colluded with the private sector in selling them lucrative 2G mobile licences below market value and are now probing whether anyone received kickbacks.
The growing scandal has not yet threatened the survival of the coalition government because it holds enough seats in parliament but a wrong move by the prime minister could seriously hurt the ruling Congress party’s upcoming election chances.
The CBI have named property firm Unitech, whose Unitech Wireless joint venture is majority held by Norway’s Telenor, as another company suspected in the scam.
Unitech last week denied it had received any favours and said it had complied with rules.
