DHAKA: Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been summoned as an accused along with five others in a case linked to the coal scam that saw mining rights being assigned without transparency to private firms.
A special CBI court Wednesday also named Hindalco, its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, and former Coal Secretary PC Parakh among the six accused. They have all been asked to appear in court on April 8.
The charges against Dr Singh and the others include criminal conspiracy, corruption and breach of trust.
"Am sure that the truth will prevail. I will be able to establish my total innocence. Of course I am upset, but this is part of life," Dr Singh told reporters.
The court rejected the CBI's finding in its final report that there was "no prosecutable evidence against anyone."
Dr Singh, who was prime minister for 10 years till his Congress party lost power last year, was reportedly questioned by the CBI in January.
The case involves the allocation of a coal field in Odisha's Talabira block in 2005 to Hindalco, which makes aluminium. At the time, Dr Singh held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.
Hindalco, a part of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group, had first been refused the coal field it sought, but the decision was later reversed. In a statement, the company said today: "Hindalco reiterates that none of its officials, including its Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, have pursued any unlawful or inappropriate means for securing the allocation."
The scam dubbed "Coal-Gate" surfaced after the national auditor's report in 2012 questioned the government's practice of awarding coal mining blocks at a concession to companies without competitive bidding.
The Supreme Court last year scrapped nearly 214 coal blocks allocated by successive governments over the past two decades. The government is now re-auctioning the fields.
"Don't think anyone in India believes that Manmohan Singh can do anything wrong. We shall defend him with all our might," said senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal.
"An economist prime minister has been summoned by court only because of Congress scams," said union minister Prakash Javadekar.
Source: NDTV
BDST: 1555 HRS, MAR 11, 2015
