Raja pledges cooperation

A former Indian minister at the heart of a telecom scandal promised Saturday to "cooperate fully" with authorities investigating what could be the country's biggest corruption case.
Police raided the homes and offices of ex-telecom minister A. Raja this week, along with those of senior aides, as part of its probe into the 2008 sale of mobile phone licences, which resulted in massive losses for the government.
"I will fully cooperate with the (Central Investigation Bureau) agency. Whatever the procedure is, I have to comply with it," Raja said in the southern city of Chennai in televised remarks.
"I will prove my innocence."
A spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) declined to say when the politician, who has denied all wrongdoing, might be questioned, but another official said it would be soon.
Raja was forced to quit last month following accusations by the national auditor that his ministry's handling of the sale of the mobile licences at knock-down prices cost the nation up to 40 billion dollars in lost revenue.
The scandal has cast a cloud over India's "telecom revolution" that has made the country the world's fastest-growing mobile market with 700 million users.
It has also raised doubts about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's political judgement in not acting faster against Raja after concerns about the sale first surfaced.
Raja's comments came after the CBI, the federal police force, questioned officials who had been raided, gathering information they said would form the basis for interrogating the politician.
The Congress-led government is under fierce attack from opposition parties for the rock-bottom prices at which the second-generation (2G) licences and radio bandwidth were awarded, in what analysts called the "deal of a lifetime."
Parliament has been paralysed by opposition demands for a cross-party probe with power to question ministers, and the winter session, which ends Monday, has been lost, dashing government hopes of passing key land reform and other bills.
The coalition government has resisted the call for the all-party inquiry, saying other investigations are sufficient.
Raja's pledge to cooperate coincided with a recommendation by India's telecom watchdog to cancel 38 wireless licences and possibly scrap 31 others.
A total of 157 licences were awarded in the controversial 2008 sale, many to ineligible applicants who "suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents", according to the auditor.
Along with the police probe, the telecom ministry under its new minister Kapil Sibal has launched its own inquiry headed by a former Supreme Court judge into how licences were allotted from 2001 to 2009.
Raja hails from a powerful party in the south that is a pivotal member of the coalition government. Congress officials were said to have been unwilling to upset Raja's DMK party by intervening in the licence sale process.