CBI to register more cases in widening ‘coalgate’ probe
01 Jan 2014
The Central Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday that it is likely to register more cases in the alleged misallocation of coal blocks, expanding the ambit of its probe.
The alleged arbitrary allocations to certain private companies happened mainly between 2006-2009. "The agency may register two to three FIRs soon," agencies reported a senior CBI officer as saying in New Delhi.
The agency has registered 14 FIRs and three preliminary enquiries (PEs) to probe what a 'gate'-happy Indian media has termed 'coalgate'. It is in the process of closing one of the PEs, in which it was probing alleged irregularities in the ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Sasan, Madhya Pradesh, run by Anil Ambani's Reliance Power, citing a policy decision vetted by an empowered group of ministers (eGoM). No further PE in the matter is likely to be closed, the official said.
According to PTI, CBI sources said it has learnt that use of surplus coal from the Sasan UMPP was approved on two separate occasions by two EGoMs. They said since it was a policy decision, the CBI was not likely to question it.
"The allocation of coal mines for the Sasan project was done to a 100 per cent government-owned company in 2006 when Reliance Power had not even won the project. The government sold its shares to Reliance following a global tender in 2007," the CBI had said.
Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh have already been named in a coal scam case. Both of them have denied all allegations of misconduct. The CBI has also registered a case against Congress MP Naveen Jindal and his company JSPL, as well as former minister of state for coal N Dasari Rao.
