Tata called for the Indian govt. to investigate the sale of phone licenses

“I wish the government would take a stand, bring an auditor in the thing, have an investigation, book people who are guilty,” said Ratan Tata. In an interview with the NDTV television channel that was aired late yesterday Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata called for the Indian government to investigate the sale of phone licenses that were challenged in an official audit.

Tata said in the interview, “There has been a smokescreen behind what is really the so- called scam, which really is out-of-turn allocation of spectrum, hoarding of spectrum by important players for free, and things of this nature.”

In parliament this month Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in a report that the government collected 123.9 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) from the sale of the second- generation wireless spectrum. The government has come under fire for awarding public phone licenses at below-market prices, according to figures calculated by the country’s chief auditor it is done in deals that may have cost the state $31 billion.

The auditor said the sale of airwaves “lacked transparency and was undertaken in an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner.”