An Indian court granted police the right to detain arrested ex-telecom minister A. Raja for five days on Thursday as investigators probe one of the country's biggest ever corruption cases. A judge at a New Delhi special court agreed to the request from the Central Bureau of Investigation, which said Raja was being "evasive" during questioning about the tainted sale of second-generation (2G) mobile phone licences in 2008.
The former minister is suspected of rigging the rules to favour certain companies, causing a total loss to the national treasury of up to 40 billion dollars according to the national auditor. A lawyer acting for the CBI referred to deals with two companies in particular - Swan and Unitech - adding that the preliminary police estimate of the losses was 220 billion rupees (4.8 billion dollars).
"Undue favour was given in the allocation of licences and spectrum," CBI lawyer Akhilesh, who uses one name, told the court. "Certain companies were favoured." Unitech Wireless is a unit of construction group Unitech and is now partially owned by Norway's Telenor Group, which bought a stake in 2009. Swan had links to Indian tycoon Anil Ambani and is now partly owned by UAE-based Etisalat. Raja, who maintains his innocence, was formally arrested on Wednesday along with two other senior figures from the telecom ministry who were also remanded in custody for five days on Thursday.
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