Bharti Airtel investigated for Money Laundering
Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing money laundering cases against Bharti Airtel, minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "ED is investigating cases under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, involving Bharti Airtel Ltd," he said in a written reply. The minister, however, did not provide additional information, saying: "It may not be in the interest of the ongoing investigations to provide any further details."
Bharti, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone company, SingTel, operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fifth-biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers. India is its biggest market. India's once-booming telecoms sector has been battered by a massive scandal over the below-market-price grant of lucrative telecoms licences in 2008, mostly involving smaller carriers. But market leaders Bharti and Vodafone's local unit are also being probed by police over "possible irregularities" in grant of airwaves to them in 2001 and 2002. Police conducted searches at Bharti and Vodafone offices in November in the cas
Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing money laundering cases against Bharti Airtel, minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "ED is investigating cases under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, involving Bharti Airtel Ltd," he said in a written reply. The minister, however, did not provide additional information, saying: "It may not be in the interest of the ongoing investigations to provide any further details."
Bharti, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone company, SingTel, operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fifth-biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers. India is its biggest market. India's once-booming telecoms sector has been battered by a massive scandal over the below-market-price grant of lucrative telecoms licences in 2008, mostly involving smaller carriers. But market leaders Bharti and Vodafone's local unit are also being probed by police over "possible irregularities" in grant of airwaves to them in 2001 and 2002. Police conducted searches at Bharti and Vodafone offices in November in the cas
