The CBI on Tuesday maintained that the coal ministry refused to respond to the request of the agency made in May for information about the missing files related to the Coalgate scam.
Talking to reporters, CBI director Ranjit Sinha said, “We had written to the coal ministry in May seeking files related to the coal allocation scam cases. We have not received any response from them. The missing files are definitely hampering our probe.”
Sources in the agency said the CBI is seeking around 250 files related to the coal blocks allocation from the coal ministry which have gone missing. Majority of the missing files are related to the period between 1993 and 2004 in which 45 coal blocks were allocated, sources added.
“Some of the missing files are related to 13 FIRs registered by the CBI in the Coalgate scam. Agency’s investigations into at least 11 FIRs have come to a halt as several records sought by the CBI about beneficiary companies are in the missing files which are untraceable,” sources said. The coal ministry has also not provided minutes of the meeting of the 26th inter-ministerial screening committee, sources said.
Sources further said, “The minutes were key to ascertaining and determining irregularities, if any, in the process through which applicants for coal block allocations were selected and eliminated”. Probe has established that certain ineligible applicants were favoured while the claims of those fulfilling eligibility norms were overlooked, they added.
The CBI is also exploring the possibility of approaching the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) as the latter might be having files related to coal blocks allocation. “The CAG may also be having files related to the coal blocks allocation and, if needed, the agency may approach the auditor for them,” sources said. Sources made it clear that the agency would not be registering any case with regard to the missing files suo-moto and would wait a formal reply from the ministry. “After all, missing files are of Coal Ministry. If they have gone missing, the ministry is supposed to file a criminal case. We can only proceed with the destruction of evidence case if we receive a formal response from the ministry,” sources said.
The agency will certainly inform the Supreme Court about these files and the fact that lack of records is adversely affecting its probe and delaying the chargesheets.