The Central Vigilance Commission, the corruption watch dog in the country today asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe all coal block allocation cases since 1993.
Last week, Coal Minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal wrote to Central Vigilance Commission seeking a CBI probe into all the coal blocks allocated since 1993 when Government had started allocation to private players for captive use. Seeking the CBI probe, Mr Jaiswal had also forwarded a letter written by seven parliamentarians to the CVC saying that blocks allotted between 1993 and 2004 including those given during the NDA rule should be investigated by the CBI, as allegedly favours were done to parties under political pressure.
CBI is already conducting investigation into allotment of 67 coal blocks that were referred by CVC earlier. Based on these investigations, CBI has registered seven cases.
Investigators have already questioned Arvind Jayaswal and Manoj Jayaswal, directors of AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Limited, for two consecutive days. Although CBI has not named any government official in the FIRs, senior officials of power ministry, coal ministry and chief secretaries of state governments who were part of the screening committee are also under the scanner for recommending companies for allocation of coal blocks.