Coal scam: Ex-Jharkhand CM Koda found guilty of graft

Piyush Goyal said the court order again puts the UPA in the dock

A special court on Wednesday held former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta guilty of corruption and other charges in a coal scam case. The court will hear arguments on quantum of punishment on Thursday.

The verdict, which came a day before the second phase of polling for Gujarat Assembly elections, gave Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the opportunity to counter Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi, who on Tuesday had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stopped talking about corruption after questions have been asked on the Rafale fighter jet deal and business dealings of BJP chief Amit Shah’s son.

“We don’t talk about corruption for the simple reason that BJP governments do not indulge in corruption. The court verdict is yet another reminder of the corrupt ways of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, and the then Congress supported Jharkhand government in the state,” BJP leader and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said.

Goyal said the court order again puts the UPA in the dock. “In Koda, the Congress had propped up an Independent legislator to become the chief minister and the government (in Ranchi) was remote controlled by (Congress leader) Ahmed Patel from Delhi,” Goyal said. He said the country suffered a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in the coal block allocations during the UPA regime.

In his judgment, Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) Judge Bharat Parashar held Koda, Gupta and other accused persons, including ex-Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and private company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog (VISUL), guilty of varying offences including criminal conspiracy in the case pertaining to irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based VISUL.

The court, however, acquitted four persons — VISUL’s Director Vaibhav Tulsyan and two public servants Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan — of all charges.

All were earlier summoned as accused after the court took cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of IPC and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007. It said although the Jharkhand government and steel ministry did not recommend VISUL’s case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm.

The CBI said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who then headed the coal ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block. Koda, Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation, the agency had alleged. The accused have refuted the allegations levelled against them.

To a question about a sense within the bureaucracy that Gupta was innocent, Goyal said the government has suggested amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act to differentiate between mala-fide and bona-fide acts, which are pending with a Rajya Sabha select committee. “But if you look at the minutes of the screening committee, which used to do the allotments of these coal blocks, it opens itself to a lot of questions related to propriety and due diligence,” Goyal said. He said the minutes, which are in the public domain, raise questions whether due care was taken while assessing various applications and while ranking applicants and whether they have submitted data that was complete and factually correct. The minister said “due diligence expected of high officials was found wanting”.

The minister also said the coal block auctioned during the tenure of the Narendra Modi government to the non-power sector are “performing exceedingly well and that is where the large part of the revenue was to come in.”

Among the coal blocks that were given to the states, he said, many blocks could not be started because of legal cases and in which courts had to take a final decision, particularly six blocks that the Centre gave to Karnataka. “We are confused as to the real story between the private entrepreneur, who was illegally mining the blocks earlier, and the state government and why the state government, on behalf of the private party, paid the levy imposed by the court on that private party,” he said.

Rake over the coal

Chronology of events in which a special court in the Capital on Wednesday convicted former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and former coal secretary H C Gupta in a coal scam case

• December 2014: CBI files charge sheet against Koda, others
• January 21, 2015: Court summons Koda, others as accused
• February 18: Court grants bail to accused after they appear before it and seek relief
• July 14, 2015: Court orders framing of charges against Koda, others
• July 31: Court frames charges against accused
• July 11, 2017: Court concludes hearing in coal case
• December 5: Court reserves order
• December 13: Special court holds Koda, Gupta, and others guilty of corruption, criminal conspiracy, and other offences