No kickbacks in Scorpene Submarine Deal, Says Indian Government
No kickbacks were paid in connection with the purchase of Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy in 2005 from French company Thales the government has told the Delhi High Court, reports PTI. Indian government was responding to a PIL, filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) in 2006, which alleged inaction on the part of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in investigating allegations regarding the deal. The central government standing counsel Jasmeet Singh said there was nothing wrong with the Rs 19,000 crore deal. Appearing for the NGO, advocate Prashant Bhushan said a copy of CBI's preliminary enquiry report has not been provided to CPIL on the ground that it contains sensitive information received from Interpol.
Indian Investigators Drop Case Against Billionaire Birla
India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has closed a coal scam case against billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla and a former top bureaucrat that emerged in 2012 after an auditor's report on revenue loss to the exchequer from allocations of coal blocks. The CBI filed the case against Birla and former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh last year in relation to a block allocated in 2005 to Hindalco Industries, part of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Groupled by Kumar Mangalam Birla. "The evidence collected during investigation did not substantiate the allegations levelled against the persons named in the FIR (first information report filed in the case)," the CBI said in a statement late on Friday.
Don't Scrap This Ship in India Environmentalists Plead
Toxics Watch Alliance warns imminent arrival of end-of-life German ship 'Northern Vitality' breaches Indian Supreme Court Order. "This is to inform you that in violation of the Supreme Court order dated July 30, 2012, Northern Vitality, a 15-year-old ship owned by German company “Norddeutsche Vermögen Holding GmbH & Co” and chartered by Swiss company MSC is headed for the shipbreaking beach of Alang, Bhavnagar, Gujarat. I am copying this message to Mr Michael Steiner, German Ambassador to India besides other concerned authorities. I have learnt that in the ongoing saga of Alang's existence as a graveyard of ships and migrant workers last month four workers died in Alang beach.
