Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Global telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel has come under scanner of Indian regulatory authorities for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is being probed on the allotment of additional airwaves beyond 6.2 MHz in violation of the subscriber-linked criteria, during the tenure of former communications minister, the late Pramod Mahajan. Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was investigating cases against Bharti Airtel under the PMLA and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

Bharti Airtel, however, has stated that the company has complied with all regulatory norms and that it is open to cooperate with investigators. Bharti the fifth largest mobile phone carrier by subscribers  in the world operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

Last November, police conducted searches at offices of Bharti and Vodafone India seeking details of airwaves allocated to them in 2001 and 2002 by a government then led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now in opposition.