Corporate Espionage: CBI detains two Govt staffers and a tax consultant

The corporate espionage case, which was unearthed a month back, has revealed a huge conspiracy theory undermining at the ministry level. In a major crackdown by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), The Economic Times reports that two employees of the Ministry of Finance along with a Mumbai-based consultant have been held for their alleged involvement in illegally obtaining documents on foreign investment policies and passing them on to at least eight companies.

A CBI spokesperson has informed The Economic Times, the investigating agency has conducted raids at six places in Delhi and two places in Mumbai on Thursday. These raids were carried out as part of an investigation into the "leakage and sale of confidential government documents relating to foreign investments in the Ministries of Finance and Commerce."Khemchand Gandhi, a chartered accountant-cum consultant, who has been detained by the police, used to sold documents and files to corporates.

The ET report has confirmed that Gandhi has also been detained by the CBI after a bunch of documents sent to him was intercepted by the agency. The CBI had recovered Rs 60 lakh in cash from his residence and office along with a trove of documents.

Ashok Kumar Singh, under secretary in the Department of Disinvestment in Finance Ministry, and Lala Ram Sharma, a section officer in the Department of Economic Affairs in Ministry of Finance, are also among those who have been detained.

The residence of Daljeet Singh, an upper division clerk in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the commerce ministry, was raided by the CBI but Singh was not detained, the ET reported.

Earlier, Delhi Police had arrested two junior oil ministry officials and three other middlemen for allegedly leaking classified government documents to energy companies.

They also held two consultants Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain along with five executives from top energy companies, who were identified as RIL’s Shailesh Saxena, Vinay Kumar from Essar, KK Naik from Cairn, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from ADAG Reliance. Sources told the ET that Delhi Police has been subsequently questioning senior officials of these corporate.

(Image: Reuters)