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The <keyword id="219589" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Special-CBI-Judge">special CBI judge</keyword> <keyword id="2055026" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bharat-Parashar">Bharat Parashar</keyword> has hogged the limelight after having summoned the former PM Manmohan Singh as an accused in the coal scam. 
 The Economic Times reports, the Patiala House courts additional sessions judge, later nominated by Supreme Court on recommendation of a sitting <keyword id="6355014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-High-Court">Delhi High Court</keyword> judge, has taken to task various investigating agencies from time to time. Pressurizing the <keyword id="6354572" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CBI">CBI</keyword> for not sticking to the deadlines in the <keyword id="981763" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coalgate">Coalgate</keyword> scam and refusing to accept its closure reports, he has always been a taskmaster for the CBI. 
 He hit the headlines in the coal case first, when he asked the CBI point blank whether they had questioned the then PM, Manmohan Sngh, who held the coal portfolio during some of the coal block allocations, the ET has reported. The CBI later did question the then <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword>. 
 
Having sentenced the self-confessed killer Sher Singh Rana to life in the Phoolan Devi murder case, the Delhi police have faced his wrath during a hearing on the IPL spot-fixing case where he threatened to slap them with costs unless they shaped up and did their ground work. 
Lawyers ET spoke to remember another incident when he was suddenly transferred from Rohini courts as joint registrar to the Delhi High Court. He has been a joint registrar with the Delhi HC. Parashar left two judgments written for his successor, who later pronounced them in open court. The High Court had to later strike it down since any ruling to stand had to be pronounced in open court by the judge himself. 
 
 (Image: India Times)

Coal Scam: Meet Bharat
Parashar: the CBI judge who had guts to summon Manmohan Singh and KM Birla

India’s premier investigative agency Central Bureau of Investigation (<keyword id="6354572" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CBI">CBI</keyword>) has filed 45 cases against ministers, Member of Parliaments and former state government ministers in the last three years. 
	 The information was revealed by <keyword id="2489530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dr-Jitendra-Singh">Dr Jitendra Singh</keyword>, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in a reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha. He stated that of the 45 cases CBI has registered during the last three years and up to 31.10.2014 of the current year, a total of 45 cases, the highest number of cases were filed in the year 2012. “Out of above 45 cases, 25 cases are under trial and 14 cases are under investigation. Five cases have been closed by CBI and in one case, CBI has gone on Appeal against the order of the Court,” said Singh in the Upper House. 
	 It should be noted that the CBI had filed 12 cases in 2011 followed by 15 in 2012 while 9 cases were filed in both 2013 and 2014 (up to October 31, 2014) respectively. “After completion of investigation, the action is taken in accordance with law. In a series of judgments, the Supreme Court has directed that CBI be given full independence and autonomy while conducting any investigation. Government does not interfere with the investigation of cases by the CBI and does not intervene in the judicial functioning of the courts,” added Singh. Some of the high profile cases being investigated by the CBI include <keyword id="981763" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coalgate">Coalgate</keyword> Scam, <keyword id="600974" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="LTC-scam">LTC scam</keyword> among others. 
	 
	Image: Indiatimes.com

CBI Filed 45
Cases Against VVIPs

MUMBAI: For over a year, promoters and executives of power companies and their lenders had sleepless nights, wondering what the <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> would decide about coal blocks allotted to them. 
 
On Wednesday, their worst fears came true when the apex court cancelled all but four of the 218 coal blocks allocated since 1993. While industry experts lauded the verdict as a precursor to coal sector reforms, the nightmare for the power companies isn’t over yet. 
 “We are relieved that the uncertainty is over. But now where do plants attached to these mines get coal from? What happens to the expenses already incurred? The government needs to give clarity on the modus operandi,” said Sushil Maroo, a director of Essar Energy and CEO of <keyword id="6440383" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Essar-Power">Essar Power</keyword>. The company stands to lose three coal blocks. 
 
Companies had expected the court to take a more lenient view on the 40 coal mines that had started operations and not cancel them. Instead, the court gave companies with operational mines six months to transfer their assets to the government. 
 “This move will have an extremely negative impact on power, steel and cement companies as an issue that is almost 21 years old is being addressed now and a lot of <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> have gone into these blocks, which will now get impacted. Most companies will have no option but to bid in the new round of auctions as one cannot only depend on imported coal,” said Issac George, Group Chief Financial Officer at GVK Power &amp; Infrastructure, which had been allotted two blocks. 
 
 
 
The power sector has already investedRs 2,86,677 crore toward exploration, mining and end-use projects, equivalent to almost 3% of the GDP. 
 
Coal-based projects represent about 59% of India’s total installed power generation capacity. Apart from the cancellation, operational mines will have to pay a penalty of Rs 295 for every tonne of coal extracted since they started. 
 
This will aggravate the finances of power companies, which are already grappling with stretched balance sheets. 
 
“The penalties imposed by the Supreme Court are very exacting and will take a big toll on the finances of some of these companies. How will the companies cough up this kind of cash without seriously compromising their cash flows or indebting themselves further?” George of GVK asked. 
 
According to Citigroup, the other grey area is how production and sale of coal will be affected when Coal India takes over these mines. “Will Coal India be able to produce in the same quantity, and how will sale of that coal happen? Will JSPL get the requisite coal even after Coal India starts operating its mines?” 
 In 2013-14, Coal India produced 462 million tonnes of coal, <keyword id="6357415" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="missing">missing</keyword> the target of 482 million tonnes. The coal ministry anticipates that local supplies will fall as much as 185 million tonnes short of the country’s projected demand of 950 million tonnes in 2016-17. The gap could widen if the cancelled mines don’t produce the projected volumes of coal.

Coalgate Verdict: Worst Fears For Power Companies Come True

The <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> has refused to allow any further hearing in the <keyword id="1189975" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="coal-blocks-allocation">coal blocks allocation</keyword> scam. The companies which were allocated coal blocks had moved a petition in the Supreme Court and asked for a re-hearing in the case. 
 
The companies pleaded that it cancellation would lead to breakdown of power generation and suffering for the rural population, who are already facing a power crisis. 
 A bench headed by Chief Justice <keyword id="902780" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="RM-Lodha">RM Lodha</keyword> refused to entertain the pleas of power-generating companies that there should be a re-hearing in case the court cancels the allocations. 
 
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on the fate of 218 coal blocks allocated after 1993, which it had declared “illegal and arbitrary.” The Centre has asked the court to set up a committee to look into each allocation.

Coalgate: Apex Court Declines To Hear Plea For Re-hearing

Taking a U-turn, the Central Bureau of Investigation (<keyword id="6354572" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="CBI">CBI</keyword>), which had earlier filed a closure report in the coalgate scandal involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh, has now told a special court that it has enough evidence against the accused. The CBI also placed on record all the necessary documents pertaining to the case. 
 The <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> appointed-special public prosecutor (SPP) RS Cheema submitted before special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that there is "evidence against the accused to show their involvement." 
 
"SPP states that under the facts and circumstances of the case, prima facie there is enough material to take cognizance of the offences against private parties and some of the government officials involved in the process of coal blocks allocation. Put up for consideration on the closure report on November 25," the judge said. 
 
The court has fixed 25 November as the next date of hearing in the case.

Coalgate: CBI Takes U-turn, It Now Has Enough Evidence Against KM Birla, PC Parekh

<ul><li>Panaki Chandra Ghose was just appointed as the chairman of India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman or Lokpal. </li><li>The Lokpal will look into incidents of corruption within the Indian government. </li><li>But the scope of its investigation is limited since it’s not allowed to investigate cases related to foreign affairs, space and defence.</li></ul>India’s first chairman of the Lokpal or anti-corruption ombudsman, Pinaki Chandra Ghose, is going to have his hands full as he takes on his new role. He’s already served as a former Supreme Court judge and is currently a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Corruption has been a burgeoning topic in India — especially with Modi’s recent #chowkidar campaign on Twitter — but there’s little to suggest to actual on-ground improvement. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), India’s score only improved by one point between 2017 and 2018. In fact, the global watchdog pegs India as one of the worst <a href="https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018">offenders</a> in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s <a href="https://www.prsindia.org/media/articles-by-prs-team/lokpal-act-3095">unclear</a> whether the Lokpal will be looking into petty corruption or big-ticket corruption as its primary mandate. Deterring the problem from both ends is important in a country like India where, on the one hand, more than 62% of Indians have paid off a public official for a job and, on the other hand, you have the big-ticket scams like the allocation of funds during the Commonwealth Games in 2010. To probe or not to probe? While finally having a Lokpal in place might be good for the general public, one of sectors most vulnerable to corruption — is aerospace and defense and one that the ombudsman can’t touch. According to an Ernst and Young report, aerospace and defence is perceived to be the third most vulnerable sector to corruption. This means that incidents like the Rafale Deal or the BOFORS case — some of the most contentious armed deals in the country — won’t come under the Lokpal’s purview. But, on the other hand, the 2G spectrum case or ‘Coalgate’ — where the allocation of resources came into question — would be incidents that the Lokpal would look into. One of the more recent corruption allegations were actually within India’s Central Bureau of Investigation where Alok Verma, the CBI director and his deputy, Rakesh Asthana both accused the other of being corrupt. Both were, subsequently, asked to resign from their posts at the bureau. The investigation is still pending and several other senior officers have also been put on ‘indefinite leave’ until the matter is sorted. And corruption isn’t limited to India’s borders either. According to the ‘Export Corruption Report’ by Transparency International, India among four countries that has ‘little or no enforcement’ in place to check against against foreign bribery. But, then again, the Lokpal is restricted from looking into incidents of corruption when it comes to foreign affairs. India already has the Central Vigilance Commission to address governmental corruption but even though it’s an autonomous body, it’s not an investigative agency. And, the Prevention of Corruption Act is which aimed at combating corruption in the government has largely been misused due to Section 13(1)d, which allowed honest officials to be prosecuted serving as deterrent to bold decision making.

Here’s what India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman is up against

CBI court’s summon of the erstwhile Prime Minister, <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Manmohan-Singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword> as an accused in the coal block allocation scam, popularly called Coalgate scam has been giving nightmares to the Congress party. The party president <keyword id="689" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi">Sonia Gandhi</keyword> has left no stones unturned to understand the way outs for Singh in the case. 
 Sonia is learnt to be consulting <keyword id="30182" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kapil-Sibal">Kapil Sibal</keyword>, former law minister Ashwani Kumar , Ghulam Nabi Azad and <keyword id="63771" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mallikarjun-Kharge">Mallikarjun Kharge</keyword> among other legal minds of the country to challenge the court summons. 
 With Kapil Sibal and <keyword id="70470" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="KTS-Tulsi">KTS Tulsi</keyword> in defence, Manmohan Singh will appeal to the <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> against the CBI summons. 
 
 Over 100 party leaders and MPs had joined Sonia in a ‘walk for support’ for Singh this morning in Central Delhi. 
 As reported by <keyword id="76338" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Reuters">Reuters</keyword>, Sonia who rarely speaks in public off the campaign trail, rallied to Singh's cause in apparent recognition of his loyalty to her family. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

The curious case of Manmohan Singh

Former <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword> <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Manmohan-Singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword> does not have to appear in a <keyword id="6364736" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-court">Delhi court</keyword> on April 8, the <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> said today. The top court has suspended the summons sent to the <keyword id="6378412" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="politician">politician</keyword> by a <keyword id="6362306" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CBI-court">CBI court</keyword> last month. The investigating agency has three weeks to respond to Dr Singh's petition against his summons. 
 Dr Singh, 82, had been told to make a personal appearance with industrialist Kumar <keyword id="286113" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mangalam-Birla">Mangalam Birla</keyword> for a case that says a coal field was illegally awarded in 2005 to Hindalco, a company owned by Mr Birla. At the time, Dr Singh held direct charge of the <keyword id="111919" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="coal-ministry">Coal Ministry</keyword>. 
The former PM has not been charged with any crime but is being investigated for criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, and corruption. He has denied any wrong doing. The CBI has twice said it would like to close the case against him, but has been over-ruled by the judge handling the matter. 
 "There was no criminal intent, it (the allotment) was an administrative decision and not an illegality," said the politician's lawyer, <keyword id="30182" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kapil-Sibal">Kapil Sibal</keyword>, who was also <keyword id="2789849" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Telecom-Minister-in-Dr-Singh">Telecom Minister in Dr Singh</keyword>'s government. Two of Dr Singh's three daughters were present in court today. 
 The case known as "Coalgate" came to light in 2012 after <keyword id="222693" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="The-National">the national</keyword> auditor said 1.86 lakh crores had been lost because coal blocks were distributed without a transparent bidding process. Last year, the Supreme Court declared as illegal nearly 300 coal licenses issued by consecutive governments since 1993. Over the last few weeks, 32 of the coal blocks were auctioned by the <keyword id="6360789" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Modi-Government">Modi government</keyword>. 
 Judge <keyword id="2055026" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bharat-Parashar">Bharat Parashar</keyword> of the CBI court said in the summons to Dr Singh that "a well-planned conspiracy was hatched" to award a coal field in Odisha to <keyword id="105310" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Hindalco-Industries">Hindalco Industries</keyword>, part of the $40 billion <keyword id="44373" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Aditya-Birla-Group">Aditya Birla Group</keyword>, which is chaired by Kumar Mangalam Birla. 
 
Hindalco has said that it made its case for the mining license "in a transparent and lawful manner".

Supreme Court sides with Ex PM Manmohan Singh, says appearance in court on April 8 not required

After 2G and Coalgate continuing to be a horrendous nightmare for the UPA in general and Congress in particular, one more nail on the coffin has been put. The <keyword id="6354889" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Central-Bureau-of-Investigation">Central Bureau of Investigation</keyword> (CBI) has initiated a probe into the alleged loss of Rs 4,200 crore to the Railways in freight, according to an Economic Times. 
 
Surprise checks conducted at 65 locations last week unearthed the fact that goods transported in trains are underweight in connivance with the railway officials and private companies. 
 
"We have carried out surprise checks and found serious discrepancies," CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad told the ET. The checks were done along with the vigilance department of the Indian Railways. 
 
The railways is known to have earned around 67% of its total revenues, Rs 85,262 crore by transporting 1,008 million metric tonnes of freight in 2012-13. The ET has reported, the railways collect freight charges from various transporters. The charges are levied based on the weight of the goods that are loaded in the wagons. Railways use both static and in-motion weigh bridges for weighing. 
 
Electronic In-Motion Weigh Bridge (EIMWBs) have been developed by the railways in consultation with Research Development and Standards Organisation (RDSO) to plug the leakage of revenue and to avoid overloading of wagons. A goods trains passing at the speed of 15 kilometres per hour gets automatically weighed by this system. 
 
Explaining the modus operandi to the ET, a senior official said, "The manipulations in weighment was done by tampering of the software, EIMWB hardware. The manual entries by the suspects led to significant loss of revenue for the railways. Even a 5% under-reporting of actual weight of freight leads to a loss of nearly Rs 4,200 crore. Such a manipulation also leads to overloading with adverse consequences for wear and tear of track and railway safety." 
 
These EIMWBs are located at 200 locations out of which CBI conducted checks in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata among others. During the checks, CBI sleuths also found that the quantum of under-weighment increased with an increase in speed of the rake. 
 
The CBI cops also secured the EIMWBs locations with the help of digital forensic experts to prevent the tampering of the machine. "We also took a forensic image of the hard disc of the EIMWB to enable a digital forensic analysis to locate the 'digital fingerprints' of past manipulation in weighment," said a senior CBI official. 
 
Indian Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena acknowledged the checks were conducted by the CBI. He, however, downplayed the enormity of the scandal. "This is a regular exercise that is carried out by the Indian Railways to check corruption. We had only asked CBI and our vigilance department to conduct the checks," Saxena told the financial daily over phone. 
 
(Image: India Times)

Yet another UPA scam? CBI smells rat in railway freight allocation

After being the favourite target of his government’s misdoings and scams that rocked the Parliament during his term, former prime minister <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manmohan-Singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword> has been a man who is out of sight, but not out of minds of people yet. Not at least that of the investigating agencies. 
 
There have been those rarest of rare occasions when Manmohan Singh spoken about in the media especially after his retirement from active politics and his life, presumed to be going peacefully, at a low profile residence given to him in Delhi. 
 The latest news on the former prime minister, who led a hectic life as the leading man of UPA through the entire decade before the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> and its allies were trounced by Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2014 general elections, was that he was ‘visited’ by officials from CBI in connection with the coal block allocation scam that cost him both his as well as his government’s reputation. Owing to the sheer size of corruption that is alleged to have taken place, Coalgate will linger on people’s minds for a long time to come. 
 
Last time former prime minister Manmohan Singh grabbed headlines was when he was accorded the highest national order by the government of Japan, which acknowledged his contribution towards strengthening ties between both the countries. 
 
Another ‘little known’ fact that didn’t really make a huge noise was his decision to adopt Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchayat under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchayat is located in Kamrup district of Assam, from where Manmohan Singh represents the Rajya Sabha. 
 
How is the workaholic politician and economist spending his retirement days? Going by his composure which remained undeterred by the most testing times his government went through while wading through difficult times, Manmohan Singh still presents a picture that involves work primarily. Only, now he gets to stretch his time as much as possible, since it is completely under ‘his’ control. 
 Earlier, as a PM, he met visitors barely for 10 minutes at his official residence. But, at a home that was given to him as a matter of entitlement for all former PMs, Manmohan Singh spends time attending meetings, and meeting people from various walks of life at his residence #3, Motilal Nehru road in New Delhi. This house was earlier occupied by former Kerala governor and Congress loyalist <keyword id="5267" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sheila-Dikshit">Sheila Dikshit</keyword>. Having moved into this humble abode, when compared to the sprawling residence he occupied as the Prime Minister, Singh spends most of his time reading. 
 
In fact, books were among the first few things that were packed and moved after he announced his retirement and decided on staying in this house. There’s nothing very ornate or flashy about the house that has now become home for the retired politician, who still commands a large amount of respect from people within and outside the party. 
 
He still enjoys a large amount of formidable security at this house, which is spread across two-and-half acres of land and gives him protected area to go for his favourite activity, apart from reading – long walks. 
 
Industrialists, economists and visitors – all get some share of his time much more than what they got earlier. Now, the meetings with people stretch up to half an hour, than those touch-and-go meetings that happened in a matter of few minutes when he was a busy man. 
 
Having been less of a politician and more of an economist, Manmohan Singh is still a force to reckon with for all the liberal measures he took during his tenure. He was re-elected as Rajya Sabha member last year, for additional six year tenure. 
 
Image: indiatimes

Manmohan Singh: Lost In Time?

NEW DELHI: Dr Manmohan Singh’s legacy came under yet another round of intense attack with former <keyword id="6356851" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="CAG">CAG</keyword> Vinod Rai alleging that the former <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">prime minister</keyword> was aware of major scandals as they unfolded, refuting claims Singh was not fully aware of the machinations that resulted in humungous loss to the public exchequer and mauled the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> party’s electoral fortunes. 
 The former CAG’s revelations challenge the defence of Singh that the <keyword id="6446767" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="2G-scam">2G scam</keyword> was perpetuated by A Raja using the political necessity of Congress to humour DMK, thus fastening the mega swindle to the reformist PM. 
 
Rai, whose book “Not Just An Accountant” is set for release in the next few days, claimed that Dr Singh was alerted by his senior cabinet minister Kamal Nath about the brewing 2G scam. 
 
Adding credibility to Rai’s claim, Kamal Nath admitted that he had cautioned Dr Singh against 2G allocations. “I wrote to the Prime Minister that I am hearing all sorts of things are going on in 2G allocation. The PM chose to do nothing,” Nath told Times Now. The former commerce minister said he feels that had Dr Singh intervened “things would have been different for the Congress”. However, there was no point flogging a dead horse, said Nath even as he emphasized that “A Raja was prosecuted for what he did”, and that Rai should not resort to sensationalism to boost the sales of his book. 
 
 
 
The former CAG also claimed that he was under pressure to drop the name of the former civil aviation minister from the federal auditor’s report on the controversial purchase of aircraft for public carriers. He said the then minister, Praful Patel, had “nudged” the public carriers to go in for the large-scale purchase. 
 
“All hell broke loose when the draft report reached the ministry and bureaucrats of all hues tried to prompt the CAG to drop the word “nudge”. 
 
Patel denied the charge saying that he never met Rai. 
 Rai’s is only the latest book from those who have had a ringside view of Dr Singh’s prime ministership, and who later chose to record the unpleasant realities of the PMO under him and the <keyword id="26374" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="UPA-government">UPA government</keyword>. Dr Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru, former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh and former coal secretary PC Parakh have all recorded the makings of many scandals that have marked the UPA decade, portraying the former PM as the leader who was not in control or unwilling to intervene. 
 Elaborating on what he had told TOI exclusively on August 24, Rai on Thursday told Time Now that he was approached by three Congress MPs – former <keyword id="6356398" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Law-Minister">Law minister</keyword> Ashwani Kumar who had to resign for allegedly pressuring the CBI to dilute PMO’s role in the Coalgate scam, <keyword id="56431" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sanjay-Nirupam">Sanjay Nirupam</keyword> and Sandeep Dikshit – to drop the name of the Prime Minister from the CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation. 
 
 
Manmohan Singh’s legacy as PM came under yet another round of intense attack with former CAG Vinod Rai alleging that the former prime minister was aware of major scandals as they unfolded. 
 
“I mentioned in the book that after the PAC meeting on the 2G, Congress MPs did tell me that keep the PM out of this,” Rai said. 
 
Reacting to Rai’s claim, Sanjay Nirupam said the former CAG was lying. “I have never spoken to him,” Nirupam said. 
 
Rai said the irregularities in allocation of 2G licences date back to the tenure of Raja’s predecessor and his DMK colleague Dayanidhi Maran in the telecom ministry. “And we had evidence of the licence being given out at particular prices not only from Raja's time but before also from the previous minister who was also from the DMK. We found that there was a track record that the previous minister had started in a particular way and Raja followed that way. But Raja kept informing the PM what he was planning to do,” he said. 
 
Rai said then PM Manmohan Singh’s own cabinet colleagues were advising him against the licence allocation in arbitrary manner. “Like his own cabinet colleagues were saying that lets discuss this in a GoM. The finance ministry was also saying that lets bring it to a group of ministers. The law ministry had also advised him to do that. But somehow it did not take place,” he said. 
 
 
 
<keyword id="204796" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Former-Union">Former Union</keyword> minister Kamal Nath (L) has claimed that he had cautioned Manmohan Singh against 2G allocations and slammed the former PM's inaction over the issue. 
 
The former CAG said former PM had enough time to stop the allocations. “It could have been stopped because between this letter of 26th December and 10th of January when the LOIs were actually issued, there was a fortnight’s time,” he said. 
 
“The buck stops at the PM's desk in any parliamentary democracy. He is the CEO of the country. He can stop, or he can initiate, both. I have written in the book that he probably chose not to stop,” Rai said.

You Searched For "Coalgate" and got 12 results

Coal Scam: Meet Bharat Parashar: the CBI judge who had guts to summon Manmohan Singh and KM Birla

BI India Bureau

CBI Filed 45 Cases Against VVIPs

Purba Das

Coalgate Verdict: Worst Fears For Power Companies Come True

ET

Coalgate: Apex Court Declines To Hear Plea For Re-hearing

BI India Bureau

Coalgate: CBI Takes U-turn, It Now Has Enough Evidence Against KM Birla, PC Parekh

BI India Bureau

Here’s what India’s first anti-corruption ombudsman is up against

Prabhjote Gill

The curious case of Manmohan Singh

BI India Bureau

Supreme Court sides with Ex PM Manmohan Singh, says appearance in court on April 8 not required

BI India Bureau

Yet another UPA scam? CBI smells rat in railway freight allocation

BI India Bureau

Manmohan Singh: Lost In Time?

Preetam Kaushik

Manmohan Singh Knew Of 2G Scam As It Unfolded, Ex-CAG Vinod Rai Says

Times Of India

Rahul Gandhi's first interview: Full text

Times Of India

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