CBI begins probe into Rs 487 crores coal import scam

The CBI has begun a probe into an alleged scam of Rs 487 crore related to overvaluation of inferior quality of coal imported from Indonesia which was passed on to NTPC and Arvali Power Corporation as superior quality in collusion with officials The action of the agency came on the basis of a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence investigation which had shown overinvoicing in the imports between 201112 and 2014 15 officials said todayThe CBI FIR is against Ahmed A R Buhari promoter of Coastal Energy Private Limited Chennai and unidentified officials of National Thermal Power Corporation Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation Aravali Power Company Pvt Ltd The agency booked them under the charges of criminal conspiracy cheating and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act the officials saidAccording to the modus operandi given in the FIR the NTPC and Aravali Power Corporation Limited had floated global tenders for the supply of imported coal of a certain grade and quality The grade and quality of the coal are crucial for achieving certain levels of power plant operationsThe MMTC a PSU and Chennaibased Coastal Energy Private Limited emerged successful bidders for the supply of coal The CEPL instead of importing coal from Indonesia directly routed their supply through Dubaibased sister concerns enabling them to manipulate invoiced and quality certificationIt is alleged that they entered into criminal conspiracy to cheat the government by importing coal of Indonesian origin by fraudulently showing inferior quality coal as that of superior quality officials said NTPC MMTC and Arvarli Power Company Ltd a joint venture company of NTPC Haryana and Delhi governments operate coal based thermal power plants for which they import coal through global tenders CEPL was a successful bidder for supply of coal to NTPC and APCL after which it entered into agreements with its sister concerns in DubaiWhen MMTC was a successful bidder it entered into tripartite agreements with CEPL and its sister concerns in Dubai The Dubaibased companies entered into agreements with Indonesian exporters for inferior quality coal officials said The coal procured by Dubaibased intermediaries was supplied to CEPL or to MMTC through CEPL on the basis of inflated invoiced and manipulated test reports like certificate of sampling and analysis as coal of higher grade they saidOnce imported these consignments were provided to NTPC and APCPL as coal of higher grade with higher prices they said In order to conceal the original grade of the coal the importing companies allegedly did not avail duty concessions offered by government of India for coal imports originating from Indonesia they further saidTo avail such duty concessions the importers would have to submit factual documents from Indonesian exporters which would have exposed the actual value of the imports it is alleged The officials of NTPC did not press for fulfilling duty exemption requirements which they did not do and accepted the consignments of coal they saidThe fraudulent modus operand adopted by CEPL had resulted in supply of coal of inferior quality to the said power generation companies as coal of higher grade with active criminal participation of public servants concerned of NTPC APCPL and MMTC by way of misuse of their official position the FIR saidIt is alleged that MMTC and CEPL imported 90 and 57 consignments respectively between 201112 and 201415 for supplying to NTPC which received 143 of them and APCPL which received four MMTC and CEPL provided inflated values for these imports According to DRI probe over invoicing of Rs 363 crore was done by the MMTC while Rs 124 crore was done by CEPL Thus a total excess amount of more than Rs 487 crore was paid by NTPC and APCPL to CEPLMMTC in the import of coal it allegedThe contentreporting displayed on our website wwwmiddaycom is provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE by us from third party agencies sources without any verification from our side It may contain error bugs and other limitations The readers can rely on the content at their own will Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability data text images video messages or any other material whatsoever or for any claimslossaction that the reader may suffer as a result of relying on the content on our site Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeverCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the goTrending Video