Minister resigns over scandal
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.NEW DELHI (Reuter) - India's Commerce Minister has resigned after admitting links with the nation's biggest financial scandal.
The resignation of Palaniappan Chidambaram, one of the architects of economic liberalisation, was accepted by President Ramaswamy Venkataraman on Thursday night. Mr Chidambaram appeared in parliament yesterday but made no statement and refused to speak to the press.
On Thursday he had made public a letter to the Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao, in which he confessed to having invested money in a company being investigated in the pounds 700m scandal. He said his wife Nalini, who managed the family's financial affairs, had invested 250,000 rupees ( pounds 4,600) of their money in Fairgrowth Financial Services, named by the central bank as involved in the securities transaction scandal.
'It is my sincere hope that these small investments will not cause any embarrassment to the government,' Mr Chidambaram said in the letter. 'If they do, I would have no hesitation in stepping down.'
Almost 32 billion rupees of transactions between banks and financial institutions was not backed by securities or was backed by fraudulent securities, the government has said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments