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CBI Charges Ex-Regulator For Favours To Private Co

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have charged former oil and gas exploration regulator V.K. Sibal with criminal conspiracy and granting undue favours to a private seismic exploration firm, a CBI source said on Friday. Sibal could not immediately be reached for comment. The CBI had earlier in the day searched the house of Sibal, a former director general of hydrocarbons, which regulates oil exploration and production, the police source had said. "A FIR (charge) has been filed against him," the source at the CBI said on condition of anonymity. "He has been charged with 120B criminal conspiracy and undue favours to a private firm," the source said, referring to the relevant section of the Indian Penal Code. The case involved certain seismic explorations carried out by the firm in India, the source said. The source declined to say if Sibal would be arrested. Earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said the issue related to the development of Reliance's D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin, India's largest gas field, causing unquantified losses to the government. Sibal has not so far commented on the case. The oil ministry said on June 13 it would reply to the CAG report within two weeks. (Reuters)