CAG trashes coal block losses report as misleading

The Comptroller and Auditor General on Thursday said media reports quoting an audit report, which suggests the government may have lost revenue worth Rs 10.76 lakh crore by not auctioning coal blocks, were “exceedingly misleading”. HT reports. Jaiswal rejects coal scam report

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Thursday said media reports quoting an audit report, which suggests the government may have lost revenue worth Rs 10.76 lakh crore by not auctioning coal blocks, were “exceedingly misleading”.

The prime minister’s office (PMO) issued a statement quoting from a letter written by the CAG earlier in the day that said: “The details being brought out were observations, which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage and do not even constitute our pre-final draft, and hence are exceedingly misleading.”

The CAG letter said that after clarification from the coal ministry in exit conferences on February 9, 2012 and March 3, 2012, it had changed its view.

Prime-Minister-Manmohan-Singh-speaks-in-the-Lok-Sabha-in-New-Delhi-during-the-ongoing-budget-session-PTI-TV-Grab

“It is not even our case that the unintended benefit to the allocatte is an equivalent loss to the exchequer. The leak of the initial draft causes great embarrassment as the audit report is still under preparation.

Such leaks cause very deep anguish,” the national auditor’s letter was quoted as saying in the statement issued by the prime minister’s office.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai asked the Prime Minister to set up an inquiry into how draft reports were being leaked.

“The leak of this report may attract an allegation that the CAG leaks,” he said.

Rai’s letter to the Prime Minister came after the Opposition targeted the government over the alleged scam and held up Parliament till noon.