Coal scam: ED laundering case against Jindal, Rao

The enforcement directorate (ED) has slapped money laundering charges against former minister of state in coal ministry Dasari Narayana Rao and industrialist Naveen Jindal in connection with its probe in the coal blocks' allocation case. Both are Congress members of Parliament.

The agency, which has registered a First Information Report (FIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) complaints, has also named members and officials of the 35th screening committee (government constituted multi-member body).

Others include Gagan Sponge Iron, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), Jindal Realty, New Delhi Exim, Sowbhagya Media and unknown persons.

The agency, according to sources, has framed the charges after it found multi-layered transactions between the firms owned by Jindal to Rao's firms based in Hyderabad and "illegal money" was routed for alleged favours given for the allocation of coal blocks to Jindal in Jharkhand in 2008 by Rao.

The same charges have been made by the CBI in their criminal complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act against these individuals and firms.

The agency has begun probing banking and other transactions by the accused firms and individuals even as it is evaluating movable and immovable assets of those named.

The ED has registered similar cases under the PMLA against all those booked by the CBI in the coal blocks' allocation case.

The ED will also look into the issue of any foreign exchange "violation" by these firms, asked by it to give relevant documents, the sources said. The other firms against which cases have been registered include Castron Technologies, Jharkhand Ispat, Pushp Steel and Mining, RSPL, Grace Industries, Jharkhand Ispat, Green Infrastructure, Hindalco, BLA Industries and Nav Bharat Power.

The agency, according to sources, has taken cognisance of 17 FIRs by CBI in this case and will probe if these firms laundered illegal money and generated "proceeds of crime" in the entire process of coal blocks' allocation. The probe by both agencies in this case is being monitored by the Supreme Court. The CBI registered the FIRs in this case after it had conducted three preliminary enquiries related to allocations between 2006 and 2009, 1993 and 2004 and projects given under a government scheme. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General, an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore was caused to the national exchequer in the coal blocks' allocation scam.

'PM could have thrown me'
Rao on Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could have removed him had he taken any wrong decision. Rao said a final decision on any coal ministry-related work was taken by cabinet minister Shibu Soren and prime minister.