NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directoratehas filed preliminary charges of money laundering against industrialist andCongress MP Naveen Jindal and former union minister Dasari Narayana Rao, the latest twist in a sprawling investigation by various probe agencies into allegedly improper allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009. Further, an official in ED said Hindalco, a part of the Aditya Birla Group, its Chairman KM Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh have also been named as they had been mentioned as an accused by CBI in its FIR filed last year.

ED Director Rajan Katoch was unavailable for comments. All companies under investigation by CBI for allegedly being beneficiaries in the coal block allocation scam have also been named by ED, news agency PTI reported.

For lack of evidence, CBI to shut many cases

The move by ED comes at a time CBI has decided to close several cases due to lack of evidence. Senior CBI officials have told this paper that there is little evidence against many industrialists and companies caught up in the wide-ranging probe. In several cases (see Special Feature on page 17), the CBI probe is focused on whether mistakes in submitting data to the government, such as incorrect figures for net worth, amount to criminal offences.

ED has to submit a status report to the Supreme Court on Tuesday on the progress of its investigation into the alleged scam. The apex court, which is monitoring the probe, will be hearing the case on May 7.

ED officials confirmed that a case had been lodged against Jindal. They said the ED case, for now, is largely a repeat of allegations in the FIR lodged by CBI and the same set of accused feature in both cases. CBI had last June booked Jindal, Rao, Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd and Sowbhagya Media Ltd. ED has also registered a case against all these persons and companies on money laundering charges.

Unknown government officials, who were members of the 35th Screening Committee, have also been mentioned in ED's version of the FIR.

A spokesperson for Jindal Steel & Power said the company was not aware of any such development and was not in a position to comment. The Hindalco spokeswoman did not respond to calls on her mobile phone or to text messages on Monday evening after office hours.

CBI is yet to decide if it wants to convert its FIR in the Jindal case into a chargesheet. It has questioned both Jindal and Rao during the course of its probe.

The allegations in the ED case are similar to CBI's FIR — that two iron and steel companies based in Delhi, Jindal Steel & Power and Gagan Sponge, misrepresented facts to get coal blocks. Also, there was an alleged investment in a Hyderabadbased firm, Sowbhagya Media, by a group of Delhi-based companies linked to the Jindal Group.

This investment is under CBI's scanner because the agency suspects it could be a payoff for alleged favours extended by Rao by allocating coal blocks to Jindal in Jharkhand in 2008 while Rao was the minister of state for coal. ED will examine these transactions to ascertain if money was laundered. Both Rao and Jindal have consistently denied any wrongdoing.