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Undue favours to 12 firms in coal blocks: CBI - Economy and Politics - livemint.com
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has identified 12 private firms that may have been shown undue favours when coal mines were allocated by the government between 2006 and 2009.
"In our investigation, names of 12 suspected companies have come up. These companies are basically from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh," a CBI official said. "It was found that these companies did not meet requisite criteria to get coal and appears that they were given undue favours."
The federal agency is likely to complete its preliminary investigations by the end of August. "We are seeking more details from these companies and questioning officials associated with the allocation process," the CBI official said, requesting anonymity.
Another agency official independently confirmed the development. Both officials declined to name the firms as the CBI is yet to press charges against them.
The government auditor in its final draft pegged the notional loss due to allocation to private companies at Rs1.8 trillion, the newspaper reported on 22 May.
The federal agency's investigations are seen as a political setback for the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance as the allegations relate to a period when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held additional charge of the coal ministry.
CBI, however, said it was neither probing Singh's role in the matter nor was it questioning the first-come-first-served policy the government had followed. "We are only probing the alleged irregularities and criminal misconduct, if any, during the allocation of coal blocks," said the second official cited earlier.
