Coalgate: CBI to probe all letters written by Hindalco, Patnaik to PMO

CBI today filed its status report in the coal scam before the Supreme Court today stating details of its 14th FIR against Hindalco and also progress in the remaining 13 cases.

CBI claims that the mining rights that were given to Birla’s Hindalco, were an “undue favour” that resulted from a criminal conspiracy between Kumar Mangalam Birla and the government’s former coal secretary, PC Parakh.

Sources told CNN IBN that CBI will ask the Prime Minister’s Office to submit all files related to coal block allocations to Hindalco.

The CBI wants to know under what circumstances the allocations were made to Hindalco.

The investigating agency has also sought all letters written by the Hindalco chairman and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting for an earlier decision to be reversed in the company’s favour.

CBI wants to examine whether the then coal secretary P C Parakh - whom the agency has named in an FIR - had, in his communication with the PMO, justified his earlier decision of not allocating the block to Hindalco, and whether any explanation for reversing the decision was put in the files.

CBI reportedly wants to examine the reason why the government preferred a private company over a public sector undertaking (Neyveli Lignite Corporation), due to which, according to the FIR, “the proposed power project of NLC which was approved by the Ministry of Power could not take off as planned”, according to this Indian Express report.

The CBI FIR has alleged that the decision was reversed after Birla met Parakh.

A CBI official was quoted by the Economic Times as saying that many officials at the PMO and coal ministry could be questioned after the documents are received. Moreover, even India Inc is not off the hook since nearly 85 private companies are under its scanner in the coal scam probe.

According to the ET report, CBI has investigated nearly 50 private companies in the past two months as part of the preliminary enquiries being probed by it in the coal scam, which is in addition to the 36 companies being probed earlier.

Meanwhile MoS PMO V Narayanasamy said, “We have nothing to hide. Proper procedure was followed while allocating coal blocks.”

“We never hesitated in providing files that the CBI has asked for,” he added.

CBI’s FIR against Birla has raised several eyebrows, given the fact that the industrialist had a clean image. India Inc has harshly criticised the investigative agency for tarnishing Birla’s image. Yesterday even Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chief of the planning commission also hit out at the CBI for damaging Birla’s reputation even before the probe was concluded.

The CBI had booked Birla as a representative of Aditya Birla Group and his group company Hindalco. The said company is one of the biggest producers of primary aluminium in Asia and the CBI has alleged corruption in the allocation of the Talabira II coal blocks in Odisha which was allotted to the company on 10 November, 2005.

The CBI, so far, has registered FIRs against AMR Iron and Steel, JLD Yavatmal Energy, Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, Vikash Metals, Grace Industries, Gagan Sponge, Jindal Steel and Power, Rathi Steel and Power Ltd, Jharkhand Ispat, Green Infrastructure, Kamal Sponge, Pushp Steel and Hindalco have been named as accused.

The Supreme Court is monitoring the probe in the coal block allocation scam to “restore the larger public interest and confidence of the people into the case of this magnitude”.

The court is scrutinising coal block allocations since 1993 on three PILs seeking cancellation of blocks on the ground that rules were flouted in giving away the natural resources and that certain companies were favoured in this process.

With agency inputs