INDIA — Telecom Crisis Spreads. The governing coalition is stressed as allegations swirl. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided residences and offices across the country, including those of associates of former Telecom Minister A. Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi in connection with the 2G Spectrum allocation scam. As part of its ongoing probe into 2G spectrum scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday carried out searches in Delhi, Noida and Tamil Nadu at the premises of several companies, their directors and the former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman.
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NIGERIA– CHENEY CHARGED — authorities have filed charges against former US Vice President Richard Cheney. They charge that when he was the Chairman and CEO of Halliburton in the 1990s, the company and its wholly owned subsidiary KBR consipired to pay $180 million in bribes to officials in Nigeria in order to secure around $2 billion of business contracts. The case is interesting because haliburton agreed to settle similar charges with both the US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission in what was the largest corporate fine ever for a violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. However, the US official charges against the firm never mentioned Cheney. The former KBR chief, Albert Stanley is serving a 7 year prison term in Texas.
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