PM makes statement on missing coal scam files, says govt has nothing to hide

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has insisted that his government has nothing to hide vis-a-vis the coal scam and it was wrong to assume that it was "hiding something".

Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that it would be premature to conclude that official papers sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the irregularities in allocation of coal blocks were indeed missing.

He told the members of Parliament that the vast majority of the papers had already been handed over to the CBI and that there was nothing "fishy" as a section of members feared.

"Let me assure this august house that the government has nothing to hide," the prime minister told the Rajya Sabha and then the Lok Sabha, reading out a prepared statement.

Speaking a day before his departure to Russia to attend the G20 Summit, Singh said some members had ignored the factual position and concluded "that there is something fishy".

He urged the members not to draw hasty conclusions and "let the house continue its normal business".

During 2006-09, 204 coal blocks were allocated to state-run and private companies. Of these, licences of 40 blocks were later cancelled.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had told Parliament on August 23 that a total of 189 documents related to the coal block allocations were missing.

Singh said the fact that more than 150,000 pages had already been given to the CBI showed that the government's intention to facilitate the CBI investigation could not be doubted. He said the government had provided all cooperation to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the CBI. "We will continue to do so."

The prime minister said the matter of allocation of coal blocks was sub judice and the Supreme Court was looking into all aspects of the controversial allocations.

"The government shall follow directions (of the Supreme Court) in letter and spirit and do its best to locate and hand over the requisite papers to the CBI within the stipulate time," Singh said.

He added that if some files were indeed found missing, the government would carry out a thorough investigation and the guilty would be punished. "(The) government is making all efforts to locate the papers (missing documents)."

He assured Parliament that if the government failed to locate the missing papers, a report would be filed with the CBI.

But the prime minister's statement did not satisfy the opposition benches.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties said the prime minister had not responded to their concerns. As Singh left the Rajya Sabha, there were noisy protests by the opposition.