Tharoor backs Indian envoy's exposure of corrupt officials

Tharoor said Shankar did the right thing by bringing the controversy to light.

However, he remained mum over the Centre's delay in taking action against officials who had allegedly accepted bribes from US companies. The government would initiate action against corrupt officials at the earliest, he added.

Ambassador Shankar had in May this year informed the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary T K A Nair about reports of corruption between US companies and Indian officials.

Ambassador Shankar told Nair that a number of Indian public sector companies had received illegal payments from US companies. 

Among the companies named were Maharashtra State Electricity Board, which got payments from Mario Covino of Control Companies, Indian Railways by Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation and Central Insecticides Board by Dow Chemicals.