HZL disinvestment probe referred to AG

CBI has referred to the Attorney General its findings in the inquiry related to alleged irregularities in the disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) during the period of NDA government in 2002, sources in the investigating agency said today.
The agency wants the views of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi whether the matter has enough merit to be converted into an FIR, the sources said.
The then Minister of Disinvestment Arun Shourie had recently met CBI Director Ranjit Sinha with some documents relating to the case which have been considered by the agency.
When contacted, Shourie said,"I met the CBI Director to provide him with files related to disinvestment process which show that all the laid down rules were followed in the disinvestment process.

"I also told the Director that the a three judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the then Chief Justice of India had rejected the demand to probe the case on the same grounds in December 2012."
He also said the valuers were not selected by Department of Disinvestment but by Department of Mines and two senior officers of Department of Mines and Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) were on the valuation committee which processed the assessment by the valuers.

Shourie said HZL was a limited company and so all assets and valuations were listed in the balance sheet and the stock market. So one cannot come up with a value independent of the stock market listings.

"The Reserve price set after very prolonged deliberations was first rejected and then in the second round government got 30-40 per cent more than the reserved price. So all the precautions were taken," the former Minister said.
The case relates to Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal in connection with alleged irregularities in the disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) during the period of NDA government.
The PE is against Agarwal and unknown officials of HZL, Ministry of Disinvestment and Ministry of Mines, CBI sources said.
It is alleged in the inquiry that Sterlite Industries, part of Vedanta Resources, had picked up stake in the public sector undertaking at an undervalued price resulting in the estimated losses running into over Rs 100 crore to the exchequer, CBI sources said.

The company has been merged with another group Sesa Goa in August last year and renamed as Sesa Sterlite.
A statement issued by then Ministry of Disinvestment at the time of disinvestment had justified the stake sale to Sterlite, saying there was a spurt in the share prices of HZL after the successful disinvestment of VSNL, IBP, etc.