Seven big Indian corruption scandals

India has been  rocked this year by a series of corruption scandals that have embarrassed the ruling Congress party, rattled markets and  delayed reform bills as the opposition stalls Parliament.

The country, 87th in Transparency International's rankings based on perceived levels of corruption, is no stranger to scandals.

Here are some of the biggest in the last two decades:

Loan bribery case (2010)
The case broke after a year of investigation on November 24  when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested eight people, accusing them of bribery for corporate loans.

The arrests included the chief executive of state-run  mortgage lender LIC Housing Finance and senior officials at state-run Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.

While the size of the scandal is not yet known, local media have reported it could run into hundreds of millions of  dollars.

The CBI is probing 21 companies involved in India's booming infrastructure sector for links, but has not named them.

The bribes were allegedly paid by private finance firm  Money Matters Financial Services, which acted as a "mediator and facilitator" for the loan beneficiaries, the CBI said.

Companies whose officials have been arrested have all denied any wrongdoing. Individuals arrested have not yet  commented.

Government officials, including ministers, have said this is a case of individual wrongdoing and not a widespread scam.

Telecom licence row (2010)
Telecom minister Andimuthu Raja was sacked after a report by India's state auditor said his ministry sold licences and  spectrum below market prices, depriving the government of up to $39 billion in revenues.

The scandal swept up as high as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had to explain to the Supreme Court why he sat on a request for permission to charge Raja with corruption.

In its report, the comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) also said rules were flouted when the licences were given in 2007-08 which led to many ineligible firms  getting them.

The CBI has launched an investigation into alleged corruption at the ministry. Nobody has been charged yet and Raja has denied any wrongdoing.

The CAG said Unitech units got licences despite having inadequate capital, Swan Telecom got a licence even though there were monopoly issues and Reliance Communications got undue benefits as it sought permission to offer services under the more popular GSM  technology.

Revenue authorities have questioned Nira Radia, a top lobbyist, as part of an investigation into whether money laundering and forex laws were broken when the licences were purchased. Radia has denied any wrongdoing and has said she is cooperating with the probe.

Commonwealth Games (2010)
Allegations of corruption over the international sporting event that took place in Delhi in October are being  investigated by several bodies including the anti-corruption watchdog, the state auditor, the CBI and a special committee set up by Prime Minister Singh.

The Congress-party led coalition government came under fierce criticism for mismanagement and ineptitude over the  sporting extravaganza which cost up to $6 billion.

Allegations of corruption spanned a broad spectrum including issuing of contracts and purchase of equipment --  from treadmills to toilet rolls.

India's anti-corruption watchdog has identified more than 16 projects with possible irregularities.

The Congress party eventually sacked Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee, as secretary of the  party's parliamentary wing.

Aides have been arrested and local media has said Kalmadi  could be arrested once he returns back from a foreign trip.

Housing scam (2010)
Congress party politicians, bureaucrats and military officials have been accused of taking over land meant for  building apartments for war widows. The CBI has begun investigating the case.

Local media say apartments with a value of $1.8 million were sold for as little as $130,000 each in the apartment  block, which faces the Arabian Sea in one of the world's most  expensive stretches of real estate in Mumbai.

The government has sacked the chief minister of western Maharashtra state, Ashok Chavan, who is a member of Congress.

The apartment block is also being investigated for several violations of norms, including environmental laws and land-use  rules.

The government has now effectively taken back permissions  allowing owners to occupy the apartments, which are required  for water and power supplies, leading to the disconnection of  these services.

Satyam (2009)
The founder of Satyam Computer Services, one of India's top software firms, resigned in January 2009 after admitting  profits were falsely inflated for years.

The fraud, estimated at $1 billion, was India's largest corporate scandal and was dubbed "India's Enron".

With clients abandoning it, shares were hammered down to near-penny-stock levels.

The government stepped in to save the firm by appointing a new board of directors and midwifed its sale to Tech Mahindra. The firm is now called Mahindra Satyam.

The founder chairman of Satyam, Ramalinga Raju, and other officials including the then chief executive officer and chief financial officer, were arrested under several charges including fraud. The cases continue in court. The defendants  have said they were not involved in the fraud.

Securities scam (1992)
Several Indian stockbrokers were accused of siphoning off  over 35 billion rupees ($778 million) of funds, mostly from  inter-bank transactions, to fuel a rise in the Mumbai stock  market in 1992. It involved top officers of state-run and  foreign banks and financial institutions, bureaucrats and  politicians.

News of the scam led to an over 40 percent fall in shares  over two months, wiping millions of dollars from market value.

Harshad Mehta, the main accused, died in 2002, convicted  in only one of the many cases filed against him, for  misappropriation of funds in a case involving the use of money  from the bank account of carmaker Maruti Suzuki for  trading in stocks.

Several bank executives were convicted for fraud in  allowing bank funds to be used for trading stocks.

Bofors gun deal (1986)
India's purchase of artillery guns from Swedish firm Bofors in 1986 was rocked by allegations that 640 million rupees ($14.2 million) -- a huge sum then -- was paid as  bribes to people close to then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to  swing the deal.

The scandal caused an uproar in Parliament, led to a split in the ruling Congress party and the defeat of Gandhi in  federal elections in 1989.

Its fallout has stymied India's defence expansion, with  officials for years unwilling to take decisions on purchases  that could later be probed for corruption.

Amongst the people probed were the London-based Indian  business family of the Hindujas, who were later acquitted by a  court of any involvement.

The case has dragged on for years without any result.