The Ministry of Law and Justice has stated that it did not believe that there was enough evidence to file criminal charges against the promoters and officials of the Essar Group whose shareholding in Loop Telecom has been the subject of a prolonged probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ministry’s opinion is in contradiction to that of its highest law officer, Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati, who had said that the CBI “prima facie” had sufficient grounds to prosecute promoters and executives of Essar and Loop.
Law Minister, Salman Khurshid has also endorsed the minstry?s opinion which is now being sent to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). He has stated that it now depends on DoPT if it wishes to forward this opinion to the CBI, which is reportedly preparing a charge sheet against Essar, Loop and their promoters.
Further, he has mentioned that no separate investigation had been undertaken by the law ministry. The opinion is purely based on the presented by Essar. He added that the CBI may be in possession of a different set of facts which the ministry may not be aware of.
On being asked whether it is customary for the law ministry to give an opinion on representation from a private company, the minister said while individual queries from private companies are not usually responded to, the current issue has larger implications.
In November 2011, Essar had written to the law and telecom ministries, questioning the theories underlying the CBI’s probe and arguing that the facts did not warrant filing a criminal case against it. As per the industry, the crux of the CBI’s case is that the bureau considers Loop to be a part of the Essar group.
