An Indian political scandal commonly refers to some action by a politician deemed unacceptable in law or by custom, or which is held to be morally unacceptable to the politician's peers or the electorate. In almost all Indian political scandals, the politicians are not prosecuted.
2G Spectrum Scam By Raja as Telecom Minister :
The 2G spectrum scam involved officials and ministers in the Government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money collected from 3G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was Rs 176,379 crore (US $ 39.16 billion). The issuing of the 2G licenses occurred in 2008, but the scam came to public notice when the Indian Income Tax Department investigated political lobbyist Niira Radia and the Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record
Former Telecom Minister of the NDA government Arun Shourie was the whistleblower who helped uncover the scam and also exposed many loopholes in the UPA government's policy towards issuing telecom licences.
In 2008, the Income Tax department, after orders from the ministry of Home and the PMO, began tapping the phones of Nira Radia. This was done to help with an ongoing investigation into a case where it was alleged that Niira Radia had acted as a spy.
Some of the many conversations recorded over 300 days were leaked to the media. The intense controversy around the leaked tapes became known in the media as the Radia tapes controversy. The tapes featured some conversations between politicians, journalists and corporatation. Politicians like Karunanidhi, journalists like Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi and industrial groups like the Tata Group were either participants or mentioned in these tapes.
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Adarsh scam By Ashok Chavan :
In 2010, the Indian media brought to public the violations of rules at various phases of construction in the Adarsh Society. Questions were raised on the manner in which apartments in the building were allocated to bureaucrats, politicians and army personnel who had nothing to do with Kargil War and the way in which clearances were obtained for the construction of the building of the Adarsh Society. The Adarsh society high-rise was constructed in the posh Colaba locality of Mumbai, which is considered a sensitive coastal area by the Indian Defence forces and houses various Indian Defense establishments. The society is also alleged to have violated the Indian environment ministry rules. Many activists like Medha Patkar had been trying to uncover this scam since a long time. The exposure of the infamous nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and builders in this scam is said to be only the tip of the iceberg. It had led to resignation of the then Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan.
Several inquiries have been ordered by the army and the Government to probe into the irregularities. Some of the current occupants of the flats in the Adarsh co-operative society building have offered to vacate their flats at the earliest, denying allegations that they were alloted flats because they influenced or helped, in some manner, the construction of the society by violating the rules. The media also exposed that the lower house of the Indian Parliament was misled by one of the bureaucrats, Pradeep Vyas, involved.
The environment minister Jairam Ramesh formally set the ball rolling for the demolition of the entire 31-story scam-tainted Adarsh building in Coloba's eco-sensitive zone on Friday November 12, 2010. The environment minister is said to have sent a show cause notice to the Adarsh housing society. The environment minister is said to have stated that "all options under the law are open except regularization of the structure". As per the Ministry of Environment and Forests' order dated 16 Jan 2011, 'the unauthorised structure should be removed in its entirety and the area restored to its original condition'.
List Of Flat owners : Click Here
2010 Commonwealth Games Controversy By suresh kalmadi :
A number of concerns and controversies surfaced before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, which received widespread media coverage both in India (the host nation) and internationally.
The Commonwealth Games was severely criticised by several prominent Indian politicians and social activists because billions of dollars have been spent on the sporting event despite the fact that India has one of the world's largest concentration of poor people. Additionally, several other problems related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games have been highlighted by Indian investigative agencies and media outlets; these include — serious corruption by officials of the Games' Organising Committee, delays in the construction of main Games' venues, infrastructural compromise, possibility of a terrorist attack, and exceptionally poor ticket sales before the event.
The day after the conclusion of the Games, the Indian Government announced the formation of a special committee to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement against the Organizing Committee. The probe committee will be led by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India VK Shungloo. This probe will be in addition to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, and Central Vigilance Commission investigations already underway. The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had promised in mid-August, when reports of the bungling first surfaced, that corrupt officials will be given "severe and exemplary" punishment after the Games. The committee has been given three months time to submit its report.
More Detail : 2010 Commonwealth Games Controversy
Indian stock market manipulation scam By Ketan Parekh :
Ketan Parekh is a former stock broker from Mumbai, India, who was convicted in 2008, for involvement in the Indian stock market manipulation scam in late 1999-2001. Currently he has been debarred from trading in the Indian stock exchanges till 2017.
A chartered accountant by training, Parekh came from a family of brokers, which helped him create a trading ring of his own. Between 1999 and 2000, as the technology bubble was engulfing the rest of the world, the stock market in India sprang to life too.
Be it investment firms, mostly controlled by promoters of listed companies, overseas corporate bodies or cooperative banks, all were ready to hand the money to Parekh, which he used to rig up stock prices by making his interest apparent. In no time, scrips like Visualsoft rose from Rs 625 to Rs 8,448 per share and Sonata Software from Rs 90 to Rs 2,150. But the vicious cycle of fraud did not end with price rigging. The inflated stocks had to be dumped onto someone in the end, for which Parekh used financial institutions like the UTI. But the party ended rather abruptly a day after the Union Budget was presented in February 2001. A bear cartel started disrupting Parekh's party by hammering prices of the K-10 stocks, precipitating a payment crisis in Kolkata.
As SEBI investigated, it was evident that bank and promoter funds were used to rig the markets. Parekh was arrested in March that year and was in custody for 53 days. In the aftermath of the scam, many gaping loopholes in the market were plugged. The trading cycle was now reduced from one week to one day. Badla was banned and operators could not carry forward trade in its primitive form. Forward trading was formally introduced in the form of exchange-traded derivatives to ensure a well-regulated futures market. Broker control over stock exchanges was demolished. It's perhaps thanks to the Pentafour Bull that India's stock markets are today considered safe. And to his credit, Parekh forced lethargic policy-makers to institute reforms in the financial system. He is, however, now suspected to be operating in the markets through conduits. Parekh will remain a work-in-progress for regulators.
More Detail: Ketan Parekh Scam
Barak Missile scandal By Samata Party :
The Barak missile system (jointly developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and RAFAEL Armament Development Authority of Israel) employs vertically launched missiles to counter anti-ship sea-skimming missiles and attacks by aircraft. On October 23, 2000, contracts had been signed by the Indian government to procure seven Barak systems at a total cost $199.50 million and 200 missiles at a cost of $69.13 million. This was done despite objections raised by several groups, including members of the team that had originally visited Israel to observe the missile performance, and APJ Abdul Kalam, then heading the Defence Research Development Organization. Though some of the objections are of a procedural nature, the Navy Chief of Staff Sushil Kumar is currently under investigation as to why these objections were not considered.
Stamp Paper Scandal By Abdul Kareem Telgi :
Abdul Kareem Telgi began printing fake stamp paper. He appointed 300 people as agents who sold the fakes to bulk purchasers, including banks, FIs, insurance companies, and share-broking firms. His monthly profits have been estimated as being in the neighbourhood of Rs 202 crore (slightly more than US $40 million).
The Telgi case brought corruption in the Karnataka police force to light, causing a national scandal in India. A videotape emerged in September 2006 of Abdul Karim Telgi taking a Narco Analysis test. Under the influence of the supposed truth serum, Telgi is said to have blurted out the names of Nationalist Congress Party leaders Sharad Pawar and Chaggan Bhujbal. Pawar has never been publicly linked to the case, but was forced to go public with a denial.
On 17 January 2006, Telgi and several associates were sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment.
On June 28, 2007 Telgi was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 13 years and fined a whopping Rs 202 crore on various counts in one of the main cases of the scandal. Hours after Telgi pleaded guilty and repented his actions, Judge Chitra Bedi of a special court pronounced the quantum of punishment under various sections of the IPC and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act. This is the harshest punishment given to Telgi in any of the fake stamp paper cases he has been convicted for so far in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Honorable Judge Chitra Bedi observed that she had taken a "lenient view" since Telgi, who is in judicial custody in Pune, had pleaded guilty and also because of his health. Telgi is HIV positive.
Honorable Judge Chitra Bedi sentenced 42 other accused in the case, who too had pleaded guilty, to rigorous impriosnment for up to six years and imposed fines on them. CBI counsel Raja Thakare moved an application in the court seeking the confiscation of Telgi's property to recover the fine slapped on him. Telgi, who broke down earlier in the day while pleading guilty, thanked the judge for "giving him justice."
More Detail: Stamp Paper Scandal
Money laundering and mining scam By Madhu Koda :
On 10th Oct 2009, he was charged with laundering money worth over Rs. 4000 crores. In nationwide raids by the Enforcement Directorate, assets allegedly worth Rs. 4000 crore — almost a fifth of the annual budget of the state he once ruled — were unearthed. Among others, these assets were reported to include hotels and three companies in Mumbai, property in Kolkata, a hotel in Thailand, and a coal mine in Liberia. This alleged scam is said to be the second-largest scam uncovered in India in 2009 and gets his name included in the list of controversial Indian businessman like Hasan Ali Khan and Harshad Mehta. Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may be asked to probe this scam, in addition to Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department. ED is behind his two close associates Mr.Binod Sinha and Mr.Sanjay Chowdhary. Binod is behind bars and Sanjay has escaped to Dubai.
In the probes, it was found that Maoists received a 30% share of the "Koda plunder". This has led to staunch criticism of Koda from sections of society, including the oppostition Bharatiya Janata Party. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi stated Koda was part of a corrupt network of Congress Party who stole money from Jharkhand.
More Detail: Money laundering and mining scam
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