The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to explain the status of its investigations in the coal block allocation cases by January 15.
A bench headed by Justice RM Lodha issued notice to the ED after counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Common Cause, an NGO, argued that it is incumbent upon the ED to investigate and give status report as to what has happened to the proceeds of the crime and whether properties have been attached.
The NGO said that the ED has till date registered only 5-7 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 in the coal scam case, whereas the CBI has registered over 14 FIRs for offences of corruption, cheating, and criminal conspiracy against several companies and public servants.
?As per the scheme of the PMLA, which deals with the proceeds of a crime, the coal blocks/mining leases in question are liable to be attached under Section 5 of the PMLA in view of the fact that the allocation of the blocks allegedly involved the commission of offences scheduled under the PMLA… no attachment orders have been issued till date,? Common Cause stated.
?It is also beyond doubt that the persons who are the subject matter of the investigation are extremely influential and powerful. The involvement of the PMO, the ministries of coal, steel and power, the state governments and big corporate houses would need to be investigated as they were either deeply involved in the allocation of coal blocks or are the beneficiaries of the said allocations,? the fresh application stated.
Urging the court to monitor the investigation carried out by ED, just like the one being carried out by the CBI, the counsel said that the directorate works under the ministry of finance, and hence was susceptible to political pressures.
Bhushan added that coal blocks containing hundreds of million tonnes of reserves were arbitrarily assigned to a few select private profiteers by ?adopting a completely opaque and arbitrary, and hence wholly unconstitutional process.?
The UPA government is mired in a controversy over the CBI?s probe into alleged corruption in the allocation of coal licenses, which according to the national auditor, caused loss of R1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Meanwhile, the CBI opposed the apex court?s move to appoint an amicus curiae or ?friend of the court? to assist it in giving an objective view of the status report filed by it into alleged irregularities in coal block allocations.
Doing so, as per CBI senior counsel Amarender Sharan, would blur the thin line between the monitoring and the supervision of the investigation, and would compromise the independence of its probe. ?It is bound to interfere in the ongoing probe. It would compromise the independence of the institution if the probe report would be shared with the amicus. No other person would be allowed to go through it. There is a possibility of directions to be leaked to the accused,? he argued.
The bench expressed surprise on why the CBI was so adamant against appointment of amicus, saying ?it is difficult to understand how it (appointment of amicus) would create prejudice or what problems the CBI will face… if the court is benefited by an objective view of amicus other than you (CBI) then what is the problem??
Coal regulator Bill may be introduced in winter session
A Bill to set up a coal regulatory authority may be placed in Parliament during the winter session, a top government official said on Tuesday. ?The Coal Regulatory Bill will be presented in Parliament in the winter session,? coal secretary SK Srivastava said at a conference on ?Developing Regulatory Framework for Indian Coal Sector: International Practices? organised by Infraline Energy here.
He said the ministry is still examining the option of issuing an executive order to set up the coal regulator, which is being vetted by the law ministry. PTI
