Coal scam: Hindalco says followed regulations stipulated by govt

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a new FIR with alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks eight years ago. The FIR, the 14th in the case, has been filed against Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, the firm Hindalco and former coal Secretary PC Parekh. CBI searches are on in Delhi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Mumbai.

CBI have filed cases of cheating, forgery and financial misrepresentation. The FIR said Hindalco did not fulfil requirements for the allocation but was unduly favoured by the government.

Hindalco clarified in a statement that the firm followed the regulations stipulated by the government. "On the media reports relating to the FIR naming Hindalco and our Chairman, we would like to very forceful state that on the coal allocation, every process, stipulated by government regulations has been followed," the statement said.

The 46-year-old head of the Aditya Birla group will be called in for questioning, CBI sources said.

The agency has booked Birla as a representative of Aditya Birla Group and his group company, aluminium maker Hindalco, for alleged corruption in the allocation of Talabira two coal blocks in Odisha which was allotted to it on November 10, 2005, the sources said.

The blocks were allocated for power production during a meeting of the screening committee, they said.

"CBI registers a fresh case in alleged irregularities in coal scam against the then Coal Secretary, M/s Hindalco, representative of Adita Birla Group, unknown persons and officials," agency spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said.

The $40 billion (about Rs. 2.45 lakh crore) conglomerate has denied receiving any FIR and refuted allegations of any wrongdoing.

The CBI action had an immediate fallout with Hindalco shares dropping in the morning by 1.27 per cent. Some of the other Birla companies were also affected.

Parekh, who was Coal Secretary at the time of this allocation, faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act as also criminal conspiracy and other offences.

CBI has been at the receiving end in the Supreme Court which has posed tough questions on why coal fields were allocated to private players without a transparent bidding process, the slow pace of probe as also on missing files.

(With additional information from PTI)