Coal news and updates

A special court here on Wednesday recorded the statement of Suresh Singhal, industrialist and former Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal’s chartered accountant and an approver in the coal case. Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. (NDEPL) was one of the 15 accused in the coal scam pertaining to illegal allocation of coal blocks.

 

On July 11, the court had accepted his plea to turn approver in the case and granted him conditional pardon.

“Today (Wednesday), applicant Suresh Singhal has accepted the pardon so granted to him, subject to the conditions as mentioned in the order. Accordingly, his statement to that effect has been recorded,” Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar said. “The name of Suresh Singhal is accordingly deleted from the array of accused persons as he shall now be a prosecution witness, to be examined upon commencement of recording of prosecution evidence,” the court added.

 

The court, however, clarified that Singhal will not leave India without its prior permission till further orders.

 

The court also directed the CBI to “expedite the further investigation as the trial of the matter is getting delayed.”

 

On April 29, the special court at Patiala House ordered framing of charges against industrialist Naveen Jindal, former chief minster Madhu Koda, former minister of state Dasari Narayan Rao and 12 others in the coal scam case. “Charges to be framed against all accused under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 409 and 420 of IPC and under sections 13(1)(c), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act,” the court said.

 

Besides Jindal, Koda and Rao, 12 others including former Coal Secretary H C Gupta were charge sheeted by the CBI in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Private Ltd (GSIPL) in 2008.

 

The other accused in the case are: Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. All accused are currently out on bail.

 

Five firms JSPL, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd are also on trial.

 

In its 144-page order, judge Parashar observed, the money trail of the aforementioned Rs2 crore and its cover-up is the crux of investigation. “A facade of companies prima facie appears to have been created as a smokescreen to cover up the actual transfer of money so as to avoid liability under any law/rules/regulations,” the court said.

 

The coal scam refers to a draft report released in March, 2014, by the Comptroller Audit General (CAG) stated that the government exchequer lost Rs1.86 crore since it allotted the coal blocks to private entities and Public Sector Units (PSU) instead of auctioning it during the years 2004-2009. However in 2012, following a complaint lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the opposition party at the time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated an inquiry to probe allegations of corruption. Consequently, a First Information Report (FIR) report was filed by the probe agency that accused almost a dozen firms of overstating their net worth, failing to disclose prior coal allocations, and hoarding rather than developing coal allocations.

Source: DNAIndia