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CBI will by end of this month record the statement of PM advisor Mr TKA Nair for clarifications over allocation of captive coal blocks to allegedly ineligible private firms during 2006 to 2009 by the coal ministry as part of its probe.

A senior CBI official said that Mr Nair’s statement will be treated as a witness testimony about allocation-related alleged irregularities including inept verification of claims made in the application and feedback forms by coal block applicant firms accused of misrepresentations by the CBI in 13 of its scam cases. Mr Nair was the principal secretary to the Prime Minister during 2006 to 2009 when Singh had held the coal ministry portfolio.

The official said that “We will record TKA Nair’s statement within the next 10 days. We may do this before the agency submits its final reports in five of its coal scam cases before March 26th or 28th 2014.”

The CBI’s probe in 13 of its coal scam FIRs, out of the 16 FIRs filed by it so far, has established that the coal ministry had allocated coal blocks to applicant firms despite their alleged misrepresentations related to the basic criteria then prevalent. The official said that we will quiz Nair to understand at what level the verification-related lapses occurred in the inter-play among the coal ministry, the inter-ministerial screening committee, the PMO and the states.

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