January 18, 1996
Web posted at: 12:50 a.m. EST (0550 GMT)
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Stunning charges linking 10 political leaders to a $18 million bribery scandal have triggered a spate of resignations in India. Three cabinet ministers and an opposition leader have quit their posts, and more politicians are expected to be indicted in the scandal.
Agriculture minister Balram Jakhar, human resource development minister Madhavrao Scindia, and parliamentary affairs minister Vidya Charan Shukla resigned from the federal cabinet Wednesday.
The three ministers pleaded innocent to the charges made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Those charged are accused of accepting bribes for favors from the ringleader of a money laundering racket that has been under investigation since 1990.
The CBI said the politicians, who belong to a cross-section of parties, were charged with "abetment to corruption," which means accepting illegal gifts or bribes.
Some of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's opponents accuse him of using charges of corruption to get rid of his political adversaries, both within and outside the ruling Congress party.
Rao, who oversees the CBI, is believed to have given the agency the go-ahead to charge seven leading politicians and seek the authority to prosecute the three ministers. Under Indian law, only the president can authorize the prosecution of a sitting minister.
"Charges were framed keeping in mind the main challengers to the prime minister's chair," former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, charged in the case, told Reuters.
The leader of Indian's main opposition party, L.K. Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or the BJP, resigned his parliamentary seat hours after he was charged. He alleged that Rao had implicated him in the scandal for electoral gain.
An estimated 500 million Indians will cast their vote in the country's general elections, scheduled for April this year.
Advani's party has rested much of its election campaign on one issue -- fighting government corruption -- and has frequently accused Rao's Congress party of corruption.
Asked if his party would suffer because of the scandal, Rao reportedly replied that it would "tarnish" the image of all the parties involved.
The charges stem from a public interest litigation filed by a journalist alleging illegal payment of foreign funds to public servants from 1988 to 1991.
Some 115 leading politicians and civil servants have been named in a petition before India's highest court, alleging that bribes worth some 650 million rupees ($18 million) were paid.
![[Imagemap]](/WORLD/images/9601/navbar2.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.