By Amol Sharma and Paul Beckett
- Sebastian Derungs/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- Tata Group has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the 2G sale. Above, Ratan Tata, the group’s chairman.
When the "2G" telecom scandal erupted last fall, India's Tata Group quickly became the poster child for allegations of corruption in the government's sale of mobile phone spectrum in 2008.
The going theory in the media, it seemed, was that the group's cellphone unit, Tata Teleservices Ltd., had obtained so-called 2G spectrum in some underhanded way. Photos of Group Chairman Ratan Tata, a giant of Indian business, were splashed on the front pages of newspapers and covers of magazines. Stories questioned whether his reputation for ethical conduct was forever tarnished. Television news coverage dwelled on recorded wiretaps of his lobbyist, Niira Radia, which were taken in many quarters as prime facie evidence that Mr. Tata or his company had done something wrong.
We hope that the Indian media provides similarly aggressive coverage of today's news: That the Central Bureau of Investigation told a special court hearing 2G matters in New Delhi that it believes Tata Teleservices followed all the rules in the 2G spectrum sale. This comes after a months-long probe in which the agency has targeted several other companies and players whom it says ripped off Indian taxpayers to the tune of $6.8 billion. The CBI has made 12 arrests thus far.
The CBI was asked its opinion during the hearing of [...]
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