Jaiswal refutes charges on coal block allocations

Bhubaneswar, June 1 (IANS) Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Friday strongly refuted the charges that there was a scam in the allocation of coal blocks.

Speaking to reporters here, he said his ministry was not aware of any CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) report on the matter.

"There is no CAG report with me. There is no scam in the allocation of coal blocks," he said.

Responding to a question on charges levelled by Team Anna against the government on the matter, the minister said anybody could level any charges against anyone.

He also refuted the alleged draft CAG report's claim that the companies which received mining licenses made windfall gains of Rs.10.6 lakh crore.

Jaiswal's statement comes at a time when the Central Vigilance Commission has referred the coal block allocation case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Team Anna had questioned the role of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the suspected scam. The prime minister held the coal portfolio from November 2006 to May 2009.

According to the CAG, mining rights for coal blocks were allocated without auctioning them and this led to massive profits for the chosen companies.