India acquits ex-telecom minister over corruption

NEW DELHI: India’s former telecoms minister was cleared Thursday of his alleged role in a multi-billion dollar scam that ballooned into one of the country´s biggest-ever political scandals. A special court in New Delhi acquitted A. Raja of corruption and also dropped charges against a slew of other bureaucrats and corporate executives implicated in the 2008 scandal that cost the state billions in lost revenue. Judge OP Saini said India´s federal investigators, who brought the explosive charges against the high-profile defendants, could not prove allegations of criminality. “I have absolutely no hesitation in holding that (the) prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any accused,” Saini told a packed courtroom.