Anil Ambani, the billionaire chairman of India’s Reliance ADA group, appeared yesterday before a parliamentary panel investigating a multi-billion dollar telecoms graft scandal that has rocked the country’s political and business establishment.
Ambani’s testimony comes days after police indicted officials and a unit of his group for conspiracy, cheating and other offences during a flawed 2008 telecoms license grant process that may have lost India up to US$39 billion in revenue.
The scandal is the largest of several corruption cases to have emerged in Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term. It has badly damaged the government’s credibility and set off worries about regulatory risk in Asia’s third largest economy.
Police accuse Reliance Telecom, a unit of Reliance Communications, and three Reliance ADA officials, of conspiring to set up Swan Telecom as a front company to gain valuable radio spectrum. Indian rules bar an existing license holder from owning more than 10 percent in another operator in the same market.
Ambani, one of India’s highest profile businessmen, arrived at the parliament building yesterday and entered through a side gate, a day after tycoon Ratan Tata appeared before the same Public Accounts Committee.
While the committee’s recommendations are not binding on the government, the spectacle of some of India’s biggest business names being questioned is almost unheard of in a country where leading tycoons have long been seen as untouchable.
The parliamentary committee, which scrutinizes government accounts, is headed by lawmaker Murli Manohar Joshi, a member of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
The panel was also due to hear testimony yesterday from Sigve Brekke, the head of Telenor in Asia who is also in charge of the Indian unit; Sanjay Chandra, managing director of Telenor’s partner Unitech; and Atul Jhamb, the chief executive of Etisalat’s Indian joint venture.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in