New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this morning that accusations that his government cost the country crores of rupees in a coal scandal are baseless.
Dr Singh said that the findings of the national auditor's report are not supported by facts. The Comptroller and Auditor General has concluded that private firms gained upto Rs 1.86 lakh crore because of the faulty process followed in allocating coal fields to private firms from 2004 and 2009. Because the PM was Coal Minister for a part of this period, the BJP says he must immediately resign.
But sources say the CBI has found evidence of irregularities in contracts for 142 companies who were granted coal fields. The agency plans to file criminal charges against five of them this week. Sources say in order to qualify, some companies lied about their finances, while others did not reveal that they had already been assigned coal blocks. The CBI believes that these problematic allotments could not have been made without the collusion of government servants; some bureaucrats will also be charged.
Sources say the CBI will begin to raid companies this week.
One focus of the agency's investigation is reportedly whether the companies that bought the coalfields did so with the intention of mining them or reselling them at a profit.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Dr Singh said that the findings of the national auditor's report are not supported by facts. The Comptroller and Auditor General has concluded that private firms gained upto Rs 1.86 lakh crore because of the faulty process followed in allocating coal fields to private firms from 2004 and 2009. Because the PM was Coal Minister for a part of this period, the BJP says he must immediately resign.
But sources say the CBI has found evidence of irregularities in contracts for 142 companies who were granted coal fields. The agency plans to file criminal charges against five of them this week. Sources say in order to qualify, some companies lied about their finances, while others did not reveal that they had already been assigned coal blocks. The CBI believes that these problematic allotments could not have been made without the collusion of government servants; some bureaucrats will also be charged.
Sources say the CBI will begin to raid companies this week.
One focus of the agency's investigation is reportedly whether the companies that bought the coalfields did so with the intention of mining them or reselling them at a profit.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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