CBI finds 8 firms to be victims of Leakgate

NEW DELHI: In an apparent U-turn in its 'corporate espionage' probe, the CBI has now found that eight companies, initially thought to have colluded with those leaking documents from various ministries, were actually the victims.

Top sources told TOI that documents related to investments/projects of these companies were leaked from the ministries of finance and commerce. Earlier, the agency had claimed that these companies were "beneficiaries of the confidential documents" and had arrested Mumbai-based chartered accountant Khem Chand Gandhi, suspecting him to be the middleman.

The eight companies are DLF Limitless Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Indusind Bank, Novalead Pharmaceuticals, Kakardi British Realty, Modril India Pvt Ltd and Prime Living.

CBI is still investigating the role of several corporate houses in the scandal and now plans to examine executives of these companies.

After initially terming well-known chartered accountant Rajendra P Chitale and Reliance Industries Limited's vice-president (finance) K V Mohanan as "suspects" in the case, and even examining them for three consecutive days last month, the CBI is yet to find anything against them.

CBI sources had claimed that a module of chartered accountants, lawyers and ministry officials had leaked more than 200 important documents related to Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearances to private companies. Some of the crucial documents included clearances to the Jet-Etihad deal and Vodafone, which were first reported by TOI.

An officer associated with the probe said, "We are still examining a large number of documents which were recovered in the hard disks and offices of arrested persons."

HDFC and the other companies had strongly denied their association with any chartered accountant who leaked documents for them. An HDFC spokesperson had said after the CBI raids, "We have read with utter dismay the media reports and the allegations made therein. We are shocked at our name being mentioned in them. We categorically deny having known or heard of, let alone interacted with, the individual named in these news reports. Any suggestion that we may have indulged in any wrongdoing is completely baseless and untrue. We state that these allegations, apart from being baseless and untrue, are defamatory and an attempt to malign the reputation of HDFC Bank."

CBI has so far arrested six persons including an under secretary in the department of disinvestment and grievances Ashok Kumar Singh, assistant in FIPB section Ram Niwas, section officer in the department of economic affairs Lala Ram Sharma, another government official Daljeet Singh, chartered accountant Khemchand Gandhi and Paresh Chimanlal Buddhadev, a partner in Chitale and Associates.

CBI is probing leak of "first and second level of decision making in the finance ministry and commerce ministry", which were taken by secretaries and ministers.

http://ift.tt/1J1BV0M Chand Gandhi,IndusInd Bank,HDFC Bank Ltd,Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd

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