OPPOSITION leaders today called for India’s home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram to face a federal probe after a government memo suggests he failed to rectify the underpriced sale of telecoms licenses that lost the treasury up to $39bn (£25.42bn).
“A CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry has become necessary,” said Subramanian Swamy, leader of the small opposition Janata Party leader who presented the document to the Supreme Court which is reviewing the terms of the sale.
Chidambaram was finance minister in 2007 when companies were awarded 2G telecoms deals at rock-bottom prices.
The memo, written by the finance ministry and sent to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh this year, suggests Chidambaram in 2008 chose not to revise the underpriced telecoms deals despite recommendations from other officials to do so.
Former telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja was arrested and imprisoned in February in connection with the telecom scandal, one of a string of corruption allegations involving the Congress Party-led government.
Raja denies any wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court will decide in the coming days whether the note is sufficient grounds to order an investigation into Chidambaram, though B Devashekhar, a lawyer at the court consulted by reporters, said the court was unlikely to consider the note as relevant evidence.
The Congress party stood by Chidambaram.
“The Congress party does not question Mr Chidambaram’s integrity,” party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters.
