Business Lobbyist Drowned in Leaked Wiretaps

India - A fresh batch of leaked recordings of wiretapped phone calls between an Indian corporate lobbyist and her high-profile political and media contacts are aggravating the political turmoil that has paralyzed Parliament.

The tapes show how Niira Radia, a lobbyist for two of the nation's largest conglomerates, industrial titan Tata Group and oil-and-petrochemicals company Reliance Industries Ltd., advanced her clients' interests with friendly journalists and sought to use her connections to influence the formation of the Indian government's cabinet after last year's national elections.
 

Associated Press
Lobbyist Niira Radia being questioned in New Delhi.

The recordings have fueled the unfolding controversy in India over the way the government allocated mobile-phone spectrum to companies in 2008—a process critics describe as a multibillion-dollar heist of taxpayers, in which a few favored companies got bargain prices for a valuable public resource. The tapes have given rise to a debate over the extent to which powerful Indian industrial houses have been favored by close government ties in one of the nation's biggest industries, mobile telecommunications.

The tapes are being examined by investigators to see if they shed light on the spectrum-allotment controversy. (more)