Coal Scam Update: KM Birla Denies Foul Play Allegation

Denying any illegality in the allocation of coal blocks, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has said that both he as well as his group had pursued legitimate business interests. In a letter written to about 1,20,000 employees of the group, Birla said that all his actions were taken in the interests of the company and its shareholders.

“In 2005, Hindalco's projects were seeking coal allocation and the same was denied despite its valid claim. I, as the non-executive chairman of the company, did what I thought was right and what was in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, i.e., to represent to the then coal minister (who was also the prime minister at the time) and the coal secretary highlighting the merits of our claim," he wrote.

"We pursued our legitimate business interest in the most appropriate way we could. I am confident that our investigating agencies and judicial systems will see through the divide between the legitimate and illegitimate," he added.

Referring to the cash that was found by investigative agencies in one of its offices in Delhi in October 2013, he said that his group had nothing to do with it. "In one such search of our operations in Delhi, a large amount of cash was found which had nothing to do with our companies, but by virtue of it being found in our premises, we became answerable," stated Birla.

"That (the discovery of cash) opened up another set of investigations and raised unnecessary questions. Our credibility took a dent, even though we, as Aditya Birla Group, had nothing to do with it," he said.

The letter was written in the backdrop of the probe initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the allotment of Talabira I coal block in Odisha to Hindalco, which is a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group.