Agency Fails To File Charges In Cases With Political Links
New Delhi: The CBI has failed to file chargesheets in prominent Coalgate cases, including those with high-profile political connections, despite serious allegations of criminality, the agency has admitted.
In a status report shared with Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on nine beneficiaries of coal blocks allotted between 2006 and 2009, the CBI says the cases are “under investigation” with coal ministry officials under the scanner along with owners and promoters.
The stalled probe prompted PAC members to question CBI director Ranjit Sinha about reasons for the delay as was reported by TOIon Thursday. Sinha pointed to lack of access to hundreds of documents as a prime impediment.
The CBI has informed about cases, like one of corruption, registered against Jas Infrastructure headed by mining baron Manoj Jayaswal, a Nagpurbased businessman with political connections. Others being investigated in the case include, Jayaswal’s relatives and yet to be named government officials.
It has been alleged that the company incorrectly claimed a proposed capacity of 1200mw without which it would not have met pre-qualification standards for coal block allocation.
Manoj Jayaswal and his relatives were allegedly linked to coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal — the minister has denied any business dealings — and are also under investigation in a case relating to AMR Iron and Steel.
The firm allegedly claimed a net worth of Rs 1,821 crore before the screening committee that assessed applications on December 7, 2007 although the application form stated a worth of Rs 1.96 crore.
Jayaswal is also linked to the Yavatmal Energy Limited case in which Congress MP Vijay Darda is under investigation. In the case of Navbharat Power, based in Hyderabad, the allegation is that it had no legal basis by way of documentation to claim the net worth of a partner and in this case officials of the coal ministry face the prospect of prosecution. The company was sold to the Essar Group.
Vini Iron and Steel is also under investigation with its directors being probed by the CBI. The company was reported to have been sold to a person close to former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda.
The case of Grace Industries is striking as its case was not supported by Maharashtra, the state where the coal block is located, or the central ministry of steel. Its directors Mukesh Gupta and Seema Gupta are under investigation.
Kolkata-based Vikash Metal allegedly misrepresented land ownership. Delhi-based Green infrastructure concealed facts and MP-based Kamal Sponge has been accused of doing the same.
Coal ministry not cooperating: BJP
New Delhi: The Opposition BJP on Thursday demanded that the coal ministry immediately pass on the relevant files for Coalgate probe to CBI. “Are the files safe with coal ministry or are they still there?” asked party spokesperson Niramala Sitharaman while also raising the issue that the PM himself is linked to the investigations.
“The probe into the coal block allocations is not even going on at a snail's pace. It is worrying that despite the Opposition raising this issue strongly inside and outside Parliament hardly any progress has been made. The CBI has said it is not receiving any files,” Sitharaman said. She cited that CBI is not only investigating the allocations of the 142 coal blocks from 2006 to 2012 by the UPA government, but also another 50 blocks, which were allotted between 1993 and 2004.
The CBI had informed the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that it is not receiving files regarding the block allocations from the coal ministry. “The coal ministry has happily sent all the files related to the allocations done from 1993 to 2004. The CBI says the other remaining files have not been sent to it,” Sitharaman said. TNN
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