A day after Veerappa Moily took over as oil minister, a crucial meeting that was scheduled for the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) to kick off discussions on carrying out a financial audit of Reliance Industries spending on KG-D6 gas fields has been postponed.
The kick-off meeting for CAG audit of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 spending was scheduled for Wednesday. However, the ministry on October 29 wrote letters calling off the October 31 meeting, sources privy to the development said.
The ministry of petroleum is yet to approve RIL's investment proposals for increasing gas production from the KG-D6 block.
Sources said the meeting has been called-off due to differences over the nature and scope of audit to be conducted by CAG.
As reported by HT recently, RIL has sought written assurance from the petroleum ministry that CAG scrutiny would be an "audit of accounting books and records" as provided under the production sharing contract (PSC) and that the company would not be "required to provide documents, information or any clarification of matters which go beyond scope of audit under Section 1.9 of the accounting procedure of the PSC."
Also, it wants the audit to be done at its premises and audit report be submitted to the petroleum ministry, with the assurance that it will not be made public or placed in Parliament as required under the CAG Act 1971.
{{/usCountry}}Also, it wants the audit to be done at its premises and audit report be submitted to the petroleum ministry, with the assurance that it will not be made public or placed in Parliament as required under the CAG Act 1971.
{{/usCountry}}However, the ministry wants RIL to give CAG "unfettered access to account books". Pending that, it has not approved it's investment proposals, including annual budget for the past three years.