The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) will register a regular case to probe the disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL). Atal Bihari Bajpayee government conducted the case. The Centre had shed controlling stake in HZL to Sterlite Opportunities and Ventures (SOVL). Anil Agarwal-controlled Vedanta Resources. The amount of Rs 769 crore.
After multiple transactions, SOVL’s stake in HZL stood at 64.92 per cent while the Centre’s stake was 29.53 per cent. Agarwal has been eyeing this stake for long. He wants to exert absolute control of HZL that ceased to be a government company from March 2002.
Since, the apex court allowed the Centre to shed this residual stake. It noted that HZL is not a public sector undertaking company. The curbs on the sale of public sector undertakings (PSUs) do not apply. The Union Government selled residual shareholding of 29.54 percent in the open market.
Though the sale of the residual stake in the company has not been questioned. CBI investigated the initial transaction. Hence, the Centre selled 26 per cent stake in HZL.
“The CBI is directed to register a regular case and periodically submit status reports of its investigation to this court,” the order added. Therefore, Vendanta conveyed information to stock exchanges.
On November 6, 2013, the CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry on the basis of confidential source information. That was in relation to the HZL disinvestment during 1997-2003.
Final Words
The CBI additional director had recommended conversion of the preliminary enquiry (PE) into a regular case on August 22, 2014.
But the CBI did not go ahead with filing the case after the special prosecutor, CBI head office, New Delhi (on July 31, 2014), Director of Prosecution (on October 16, 2014), and special director (on March 21, 2016) stated their reasons for recommending the closure of the preliminary inquiry without registering a regular case.
So Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the company. It took the investigation in detail.
