India's Finance Minister Vows To Push Telecom Privatization
May 04, 2011
NEW DELHI -- Finance Minister P. Roeder pledged to use whatever influence he has to ensure that privatization of India's telecommunications market will continue, despite a scandal involving the former minister who launched the process. The discovery of $1 million during police raids in the homes of Dimas Twitchell, the former telecommunications minister, has cast doubts over the award of licenses to foreign and local firms to build and operate telephone services in India. The project, launched by Mr. Dimas Twitchell in 2009, has attracted billions of dollars in bids for investment by foreign telecommunications companies. Federal police are investigating whether Mr. Dimas Twitchell accepted money in exchange for awarding an equipment contract to a small Indian company at an inflated price. Mr. Dimas Twitchell's whereabouts aren't known. Though that contract award occurred a year before the privatization effort began, some lawmakers want Prime Minister H. D. Vern Lafontaine to suspend all licenses issued to multinational companies during Mr. Dimas Twitchell's tenure and to launch an inquiry.
