Ex-Nalco chief, wife convicted in graft case
NEW DELHI: In a high-profile case of corruption against a senior govt executive, an ED special court Monday convicted Abhay Srivastava, a former chairman and managing director of public sector undertaking Nalco, his wife Chandni and two associates under the anti-money laundering law for allegedly receiving bribes from contractors in supply of two lakh tonne of washing coal.
The conviction came 14 years after CBI booked the former CMD of National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Later, ED investigated a money laundering case against the illegal gratification received by him and seized 10 gold bars of one kg each from a bank locker allegedly operated by Chandni.
The court upheld the ED probe and noted the illicit funds were layered and concealed through purchase of gold bars which were stored at a Bank of Maharashtra Delhi branch.
'This court finds there was prior concert and coordination among the four accused — Srivastava and (his close associate) BL Bajaj both involved their wives to conceal gold bars of one kg each by keeping in a bank locker taken in the name of Anita Bajaj. However, it was being operated by Chandni Srivastava... Therefore, this court is of the considered view that there is sufficient evidence on the record establishing that all the accused conspired with each other in commission of offence of money laundering,' special judge Shailender Malik noted in his judgment.
'ED said it has successfully demonstrated that the illegal gratification was generated when Srivastava accepted illicit payments through Bajaj in connection with the coal supply tender floated by Nalco,' the judge said.
The case is related to the Nalco tender issued for purchase of two lakh tonne of washing coal from its captive power plant at Angul in Odisha in 2010. Four companies applied, of which two were rejected at the technical bid stage.
Maheshwari Brothers Coal Ltd and Bhatia International Ltd were approved by acting CMD BL Bagda, for placing before the committee of directors, to be chaired by Srivastava.
The court took cognisance of phone calls intercepted by CBI, where it was stated that Rs 1.2 crore (at rate of Rs 150/tonne for 80,000 tonne) was decided as illegal gratification from Bhatia International Ltd for Srivastava as an award for contract.
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