Firms Incur Rs 116 Cr Losses
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two cases of alleged cheating in importing and supplying low quality coal from Indonesia to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NTPC SAIL Power Corporation Ltd (NSPCL), resulting in losses of Rs 116.07 crore.
In the first case, resulting in loss of Rs 23.16 crore to NTPC, the agency registered an FIR against A K Srivastava, additional general manager, Uma Shankar Verma, deputy manager, NTPC power plant lab, and Indore based Bhatia International, currently known as Asian Natural Resources Ltd.
In the other case, supply of lower grade coal has caused a wrongful loss of Rs 92.91 crore to NSPCL.
The agency has also named international companies, Singapore-based Bhatia International Pte Limited, Jakarta-based PT Mitra S K Analisa Testama, its Indian subsidiary S K Mitra Pvt Limited based in Kolkata and chemist Chandra Prakash Yadav for alleged criminal conspiracy to cheat the PSU.
“It is alleged that the accused persons during the period 2011-13 entered into criminal conspiracy with an intention to cheat NTPC. In pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy, inferior quality non-cooking coal of Indonesian origin, shown to be of good quality on paper, was purchased from Indonesia by a Singapore-based company, overseas supplier and sister concern of an Indore-based group of companies,” the CBI spokesperson said. The CBI has alleged that inferior quality coal was brought to India through the sea-route through different bill of entries having gross calorific value which was far less than the technical specifications of the agreement.
The coal which should have been rejected was supplied to NTPC power plant at Unchahar, which has resulted in a wrongful loss of Rs 23.16 crore. The accused companies used a similar modus operandi at NSPCL power plant in Bhilai in an alleged criminal conspiracy with its officials to cheat the public sector undertaking of Rs 92.91 crore.
In this case, CBI has registered the FIR of alleged criminal conspiracy to cheat and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against P C Gupta, senior manager, the head of NSPCL power plant lab, Bhilai, A V Ramesh, the chemist at the laboratories and the chemist and branch head of Mumbai-based Geochem private laboratories.
Soon after registering cases, CBI carried out searches in the offices and residential premises of NTPC and NSPCL officials named in the FIR, besides various premises of Bhatia International and Grochem.
Coalgate: CBI knocks at NDA door, BJP leader named in FIR
The CBI has brought under its scrutiny alleged irregularities in two allocations of coal blocks made during the NDA and United Front government during 1993-2005, naming BJP leader Anup Agarwalla and his firm BLA Industries Ltd, of which he is MD and unknown public servants and private persons, in one of the two FIRs lodged by it, making it the first case of an opposition party member being named in the scam. The agency registered another FIR against M/s Castron Technologies, M/s Castron Mining, their directors, unknown public servants and private persons.
Anup Agarwalla, son of former RajyaSabha MP P Agarwalla, is a permanent invitee to Jharkhand State Working Committee of BJP and special invitee to party’s national executive.
The CBI has alleged in its FIR that BLA Industries, which has its registered office in Mumbai, got two coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh and was selling coal in the open market. Officials said that the worth of coal being sold in open market was at least Rs 100 crore annually. Officials said that the company had been allocated two coal blocks – Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) in Mahapani coalfields of Madhya Pradesh – with 5.15 million tonnes and 4.19 million tonnes of reserves for use in power plants to be set up by them.
The CBI alleged that the company entered into an alleged criminal conspiracy with unknown public officials of coal ministry and changed its end-use. Officials said that they later got the permission to sell the coal from the fields in open market from the ministry against the principle of captive mining.
The firm had got coal blocks on 21 June, 1996, during the tenure of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
In its second FIR naming Kolkata-based Castron Mining and Jharkhand-based Castron Technologies, its directors, unknown public servants and private persons, CBI alleged the coal block was allocated in violation of existing guidelines.
Castron Mining Ltd (formerly Castron Technologies Ltd) has got Brahmadiha coal blocks under Giridih coalfields of Jharkhand with a 2.215 million tonnes reserve, for use in manufacturing of Iron and Steel. The coal block was allocated on 1 September 1999 during the BJP government’s tenure. Officials said that the coal block allocated did not fit into prescribed norms and extant guidelines for allocation of coal blocks for captive end use.
‘It has been alleged that the private company, in conspiracy with public servants, managed to get the coal block with no clear cut end use project,’ a CBI release said.
The CBI has conducted searches at nine locations in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhanbad, Bhopal and Narsinghpur (Madhya Pradesh) in regard to the cases.
A preliminary enquiry to examine the alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks during 1993-2005 was registered on reference from Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in September, 2012. These are the first two cases in that preliminary enquiry.
Officials said that CBI officials have also found documents relating to transportation of coal for sale in open market and further probe in the case was continuing.
With this, CBI has so far registered 16 FIRs and three preliminary enquiries in the alleged multi-crore scam. The first case was registered on September 4, 2012. However, no charge sheet has been filed so far.
Meanwhile, based on preliminary data from major ports, imports of various types of coal and coke into India during 2013 have totalled 141.509 million tonnes.
While thermal coal import, estimated at 107.8 million tonnes, accounted for about 76%, coking coal import is estimated at about 30.7 million tonnes. The other products like met coke, pet coke and coke nut accounted for about 2%.
Australia remained the top supplier of coking coal with about 84% share. For thermal coal Indonesia was the major supplier with about 75% share. For met coke, Chinese dominance at about 56% was somewhat diluted with supplies coming from 9 other nations.
The highest monthly imports took place in July 2013 at about 13.4 million tonnes with monthly average for 2013 at 11.79 million tonnes per month.
Ports on Western Coast received about 69 million tonnes, followed by Eastern Coast at about 50 million tonnes and Southern Coast at 21 million tonnes. The highest imports occurred at Mundra 33.1 million tonnes, followed by Krishnapatnam at about 18.6 million tonnes, Ennore at 10.4 million tonnes, Paradip at 9.3 million tonnes, Haldia at 7.7 million tonnes, New Mangalore at 7.3 million tonnes, Mormugao at 7.3 million tonnes, Dahej at 6.9 million tonnes, Vizag at 6.4 million tonnes and Kandla at 5.2 million tonnes. The balance 14 ports accounted for 29.2 million tonnes.
A total of about 2300 number of vessels were unloaded, i.e. about 50 per week at various ports with an average cargo size of 60,000 tonnes per vessel.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two cases of alleged cheating in importing and supplying low quality coal from Indonesia to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NTPC SAIL Power Corporation Ltd (NSPCL), resulting in losses of Rs 116.07 crore.
In the first case, resulting in loss of Rs 23.16 crore to NTPC, the agency registered an FIR against A K Srivastava, additional general manager, Uma Shankar Verma, deputy manager, NTPC power plant lab, and Indore based Bhatia International, currently known as Asian Natural Resources Ltd.
In the other case, supply of lower grade coal has caused a wrongful loss of Rs 92.91 crore to NSPCL.
The agency has also named international companies, Singapore-based Bhatia International Pte Limited, Jakarta-based PT Mitra S K Analisa Testama, its Indian subsidiary S K Mitra Pvt Limited based in Kolkata and chemist Chandra Prakash Yadav for alleged criminal conspiracy to cheat the PSU.
“It is alleged that the accused persons during the period 2011-13 entered into criminal conspiracy with an intention to cheat NTPC. In pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy, inferior quality non-cooking coal of Indonesian origin, shown to be of good quality on paper, was purchased from Indonesia by a Singapore-based company, overseas supplier and sister concern of an Indore-based group of companies,” the CBI spokesperson said. The CBI has alleged that inferior quality coal was brought to India through the sea-route through different bill of entries having gross calorific value which was far less than the technical specifications of the agreement.
The coal which should have been rejected was supplied to NTPC power plant at Unchahar, which has resulted in a wrongful loss of Rs 23.16 crore. The accused companies used a similar modus operandi at NSPCL power plant in Bhilai in an alleged criminal conspiracy with its officials to cheat the public sector undertaking of Rs 92.91 crore.
In this case, CBI has registered the FIR of alleged criminal conspiracy to cheat and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against P C Gupta, senior manager, the head of NSPCL power plant lab, Bhilai, A V Ramesh, the chemist at the laboratories and the chemist and branch head of Mumbai-based Geochem private laboratories.
Soon after registering cases, CBI carried out searches in the offices and residential premises of NTPC and NSPCL officials named in the FIR, besides various premises of Bhatia International and Grochem.
Coalgate: CBI knocks at NDA door, BJP leader named in FIR
The CBI has brought under its scrutiny alleged irregularities in two allocations of coal blocks made during the NDA and United Front government during 1993-2005, naming BJP leader Anup Agarwalla and his firm BLA Industries Ltd, of which he is MD and unknown public servants and private persons, in one of the two FIRs lodged by it, making it the first case of an opposition party member being named in the scam. The agency registered another FIR against M/s Castron Technologies, M/s Castron Mining, their directors, unknown public servants and private persons.
Anup Agarwalla, son of former RajyaSabha MP P Agarwalla, is a permanent invitee to Jharkhand State Working Committee of BJP and special invitee to party’s national executive.
The CBI has alleged in its FIR that BLA Industries, which has its registered office in Mumbai, got two coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh and was selling coal in the open market. Officials said that the worth of coal being sold in open market was at least Rs 100 crore annually. Officials said that the company had been allocated two coal blocks – Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) in Mahapani coalfields of Madhya Pradesh – with 5.15 million tonnes and 4.19 million tonnes of reserves for use in power plants to be set up by them.
The CBI alleged that the company entered into an alleged criminal conspiracy with unknown public officials of coal ministry and changed its end-use. Officials said that they later got the permission to sell the coal from the fields in open market from the ministry against the principle of captive mining.
The firm had got coal blocks on 21 June, 1996, during the tenure of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
In its second FIR naming Kolkata-based Castron Mining and Jharkhand-based Castron Technologies, its directors, unknown public servants and private persons, CBI alleged the coal block was allocated in violation of existing guidelines.
Castron Mining Ltd (formerly Castron Technologies Ltd) has got Brahmadiha coal blocks under Giridih coalfields of Jharkhand with a 2.215 million tonnes reserve, for use in manufacturing of Iron and Steel. The coal block was allocated on 1 September 1999 during the BJP government’s tenure. Officials said that the coal block allocated did not fit into prescribed norms and extant guidelines for allocation of coal blocks for captive end use.
‘It has been alleged that the private company, in conspiracy with public servants, managed to get the coal block with no clear cut end use project,’ a CBI release said.
The CBI has conducted searches at nine locations in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhanbad, Bhopal and Narsinghpur (Madhya Pradesh) in regard to the cases.
A preliminary enquiry to examine the alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks during 1993-2005 was registered on reference from Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in September, 2012. These are the first two cases in that preliminary enquiry.
Officials said that CBI officials have also found documents relating to transportation of coal for sale in open market and further probe in the case was continuing.
With this, CBI has so far registered 16 FIRs and three preliminary enquiries in the alleged multi-crore scam. The first case was registered on September 4, 2012. However, no charge sheet has been filed so far.
Meanwhile, based on preliminary data from major ports, imports of various types of coal and coke into India during 2013 have totalled 141.509 million tonnes.
While thermal coal import, estimated at 107.8 million tonnes, accounted for about 76%, coking coal import is estimated at about 30.7 million tonnes. The other products like met coke, pet coke and coke nut accounted for about 2%.
Australia remained the top supplier of coking coal with about 84% share. For thermal coal Indonesia was the major supplier with about 75% share. For met coke, Chinese dominance at about 56% was somewhat diluted with supplies coming from 9 other nations.
The highest monthly imports took place in July 2013 at about 13.4 million tonnes with monthly average for 2013 at 11.79 million tonnes per month.
Ports on Western Coast received about 69 million tonnes, followed by Eastern Coast at about 50 million tonnes and Southern Coast at 21 million tonnes. The highest imports occurred at Mundra 33.1 million tonnes, followed by Krishnapatnam at about 18.6 million tonnes, Ennore at 10.4 million tonnes, Paradip at 9.3 million tonnes, Haldia at 7.7 million tonnes, New Mangalore at 7.3 million tonnes, Mormugao at 7.3 million tonnes, Dahej at 6.9 million tonnes, Vizag at 6.4 million tonnes and Kandla at 5.2 million tonnes. The balance 14 ports accounted for 29.2 million tonnes.
A total of about 2300 number of vessels were unloaded, i.e. about 50 per week at various ports with an average cargo size of 60,000 tonnes per vessel.
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