The biggest scams of 2010

2 Lakh Crore lost! The biggest scams of 2010
By PTI

New Delhi: For scams, whose total size runs into 13-digit numbers, the names they are known by are short -- 2G, CWG and IPL.

Going by the estimated size of these scams, the total for the year 2010 could be well beyond 2,00,000 crore -- a 13-digit figure -- although much of the loss is presumptive in nature.

The scam with the shortest name -- 2G -- alone, according to various accounts, deprived the government coffers of 1.76 lakh crore in potential revenue.

2G is the acronym for second generation mobile telephony and it ran into a scam cloud over allocation of spectrum, or radio waves, at prices that were not market-determined.

Back home, the names of various scams mostly read like those taken out from primary school alphabet colouring books, often limited to two or three letters, with a few numerals thrown in-between in some cases.

And while the small names were certainly not beautiful for those at the receiving end of these scams, the large size of these would have definitely helped the perpetrators make a bounty.

Adding to the acronym frenzy, the government wants a probe into the 2G scam by a PAC (the acronym for Public Accounts Committee), but the Opposition wants the investigation by a JPC, again an acronym for a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

And for the record, the CBI is probing the scam under the supervision of the SC (Supreme Court).

Other major scams during the year were that of the IPL and CWG.

These were related to the Indian Premier League, an annual short-format cricket tournament, and the Commonwealth Games, which the country hosted this year.

The reports suggest that CWG involved irregularities worth 8,000 crore, while those in the IPL were to the tune of 1,200-1,500 crore, although there are no official figures for either.

Toward the end of the year, there was also a LICHF scam, which involved some top officials of LIC Housing Finance and a few other private and public sector financial sector firms and reportedly involved irregularities to the tune of 1,000 crore.

The above is from Silicon India.
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