NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indias premier defended himself against accusations of inaction in a 40-billion-dollar telecoms scandal on Saturday as he promised that anyone found guilty in the case would be punished. Manmohan Singh is accused of failing to act on allegations that his telecoms minister had acted improperly in the scandal, described by commentators as the most serious crisis to be faced by the Congress-led government in the last six years. There should be no doubt in anyones mind that if any wrong thing has been done by anybody he or she or will be brought to book, Singh told a New Delhi conference in his first public statement on the controversy. We need to effectively deal with the threat of corruption, he added. While there is no suggestion Singh profited from the 2008 second-generation (2G) spectrum allocation, his reputation as the Mr Clean of politics who has no tolerance for corruption has been brought into question, analysts say. The firestorm was ignited earlier in the week when Indias chief auditing body declared that the sale of 2G telecom licences at a fraction of their value cost the country up to 40b dollars. Indias SC upped the pressure on Singh by asking him to present a sworn statement explaining his alleged inaction and silence for 16 months on a request by a prominent opposition lawmaker to prosecute former telecoms minister A. Raja who stepped down last weekend, denying any wrongdoing. Under Indian law, the prime minister must approve criminal proceedings against any cabinet member. Responding to the allegations, Singhs office submitted an affidavit to the court Saturday denying inaction. The submission said the letters from lawmaker Subrama-niam Swamy were forwarded to the justice department, which concluded any move against Raja would be premature as the federal Central Bureau of Investigation was already probing the case. In a sign pressures might be taking their toll, Singh, 78, famed for introducing Indias market-led reforms in the early 1990s, said he sometimes felt like a high school student going from one test to another. The opposition has paralysed parliament over the issue, prompting what Singh said was a humble request to all political parties to allow parliament to function. We can discuss everything, Singh said, although the government has rejected the oppositions key demands for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations. Senior politicians of the ruling Congress party have rallied round Singh, whose cerebral style and reputation for probity usually puts him above Indias mud-slinging politics. There has been no damage to an honourable man held in the greatest esteem by the country, said ruling Congress Party spokesman Manish Tiwari. Raja hails from a powerful southern regional party that is a pivotal member of the coalition government headed by Singhs Congress. Party officials were said by commentators to have been unwilling to risk the fall of the coalition by upsetting Rajas DMK party. Opposition parties charge that the ex-minister, who presided over the worlds fastest-growing mobile market, gave away lucrative wireless spectrum licences to firms he favoured some of which had no telecoms experience. The so-called 2G scam has dominated newspaper front pages, becoming the focal point of public anger against corruption that has toppled several high-profile figures in recent weeks, including Suresh Kalmadi, chief organiser of Octobers graft-mired Delhi Commonwealth Games. Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and Indias most powerful politician, said late Friday while the countrys fast-growing economy may be increasingly dynamic, our moral universe seems to be shrinking... Graft and greed are on the rise.