U.S. Indictment Alleges Indian MP Sought Millions in Bribes - India Real Time - WSJ
U.S. Indictment Alleges Indian MP Sought Millions in Bribes
A man cleaned the windscreen of an election campaign vehicle bearing Congress Party symbols and logos in Hyderabad, Mar. 6.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Indian parliamentarian K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao was indicted by a U.S. grand jury for allegedly soliciting millions of dollars in bribesfor help securing mining licenses in India, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
The indictment was part of an international corruption case that allegedly involved $18.5 million in bribes for licenses in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh for a titanium project expected to generate $500 million in annual sales, prosecutors said.
K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao
Rajya Sabha
Mr. Rao, a member of India’s Upper House of Parliament for the governing Congress party and an advisor to former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and other Indian officials in exchange for securing discretionary clearances for the project.
Mr. Rao couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
Mr. Reddy died in a helicopter crash in 2009.
The timing of the indictment, which comes a few days before India heads to national polls, is particularly tricky for Congress. The party, which has been in power for a decade, is facing nationwide anger over a series of high-profile corruption scandals involving leaders of the party. The most prominent cases involve the alleged misallocation of coal-mining rights and telecom licenses.
Congress said Thursday that it would take action against Mr. Rao if the charges were found to be true.
“There is no question of sparing anyone for something like this, no matter how senior they are,” said Renuka Chowdhury, a spokeswoman for Congress and also an Upper House MP from Andhra Pradesh.
Ms. Chowdhury said these previous scandals reflected “individual choices made by individual leaders” and added that this latest case involving Mr. Rao wouldn’t affect Congress’s electoral prospects as “people know Congress has taken serious steps to combat corruption.”
This includes a law passed last year for the creation of a strong anti-corruption ombudsman to deal with cases of official graft, Ms. Chowdhury said.
According to the U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in Chicago, Ukrainian gas tycoon Dmytro Firtash met with a number of Indian officials, including Mr. Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, to discuss the titanium project, and authorized payment of at least $18.5 million in bribes to both state and central government officials.
U.S. prosecutors said they have jurisdiction over the case because the defendants used U.S. financial institutions to transfer the bribes and because the accused had planned to sell the titanium products to an unnamed American company based in Chicago.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @WSJIndia.
U.S. Indictment Alleges Indian MP Sought Millions in Bribes
A man cleaned the windscreen of an election campaign vehicle bearing Congress Party symbols and logos in Hyderabad, Mar. 6.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Indian parliamentarian K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao was indicted by a U.S. grand jury for allegedly soliciting millions of dollars in bribesfor help securing mining licenses in India, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
The indictment was part of an international corruption case that allegedly involved $18.5 million in bribes for licenses in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh for a titanium project expected to generate $500 million in annual sales, prosecutors said.
K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao
Rajya Sabha
Mr. Rao, a member of India’s Upper House of Parliament for the governing Congress party and an advisor to former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and other Indian officials in exchange for securing discretionary clearances for the project.
Mr. Rao couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
Mr. Reddy died in a helicopter crash in 2009.
The timing of the indictment, which comes a few days before India heads to national polls, is particularly tricky for Congress. The party, which has been in power for a decade, is facing nationwide anger over a series of high-profile corruption scandals involving leaders of the party. The most prominent cases involve the alleged misallocation of coal-mining rights and telecom licenses.
Congress said Thursday that it would take action against Mr. Rao if the charges were found to be true.
“There is no question of sparing anyone for something like this, no matter how senior they are,” said Renuka Chowdhury, a spokeswoman for Congress and also an Upper House MP from Andhra Pradesh.
Ms. Chowdhury said these previous scandals reflected “individual choices made by individual leaders” and added that this latest case involving Mr. Rao wouldn’t affect Congress’s electoral prospects as “people know Congress has taken serious steps to combat corruption.”
This includes a law passed last year for the creation of a strong anti-corruption ombudsman to deal with cases of official graft, Ms. Chowdhury said.
According to the U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in Chicago, Ukrainian gas tycoon Dmytro Firtash met with a number of Indian officials, including Mr. Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, to discuss the titanium project, and authorized payment of at least $18.5 million in bribes to both state and central government officials.
U.S. prosecutors said they have jurisdiction over the case because the defendants used U.S. financial institutions to transfer the bribes and because the accused had planned to sell the titanium products to an unnamed American company based in Chicago.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @WSJIndia.
