The Hindu Business Line : ‘CAG audit of RIL gas contract getting tough’

NEW DELHI: India's supreme audit institution Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Saturday said it is in the process of auditing Government's gas contract with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, but has not been able to access the books of the contractor for abo ut two years.

“Audit has gone into a limbo, so we cannot share much detail,” a top official at the Comptroller and Auditor General said on the condition of anonymity, when asked if the audit has been done on the capital expenditure of Rs 45,000 crore by RIL in its Kri shna-Godavari basin gas fields.

“The CAG team has carried out the audit work,” Mr V K Sibal, Director General, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, had said earlier this week.

The comments by the oil and gas regulator, on its official website, followed allegations made by Mr Anil Ambani, fighting a bitter gas battle with elder brother Mr Mukesh, that RIL had overstated its expenditure and demands for a probe by the Central Vig ilance Commission and audit by CAG.

The CAG official said the special audit was being done on the government's request under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) for finding natural gas and other petroleum products.

Auditing was being done not only of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between the government and RIL, but also for at least half a dozen other contracts. But the account books of these contractors were not accessible, he added. - PTI

Prev: Rupee depreciates further by 17 paise vs dollar
Next: Oil India IPO to hit market on September 7

Business Line | NUS Index |

Copyright copy; 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line