In the second conviction in the coalgate scam, a special court here today awarded three-year jail terms to the senior officials of Delhi-based Rathi Steel and Power Ltd. (RSPL) and two years to a mid-level employee of the firm. A court held the company and its three officials guilty of illegal allocation of Chhattisgarh's Kesla North coal block.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar convicted the company's Pradeep Rathi, Managing Director (MD), Udit Rathi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Kushal Aggarwal, Assistant General Manager (AGM), under sections 120-B/420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While the Rathis were awarded a sentence of three years rigorous imprisonment each, Aggarwal was awarded two years.
The Rathis were also fined Rs. 25 lakh each; Aggarwal was fined Rs. 5 lakh. Since Udit also convicted under section 420 of the IPC, Judge Parashar further sentenced to him three years and a fine of Rs. 25 lakh. However, Udit will serve this sentence concurrently. The company – RSPL, was fined Rs. 50 lakh.
During arguments for sentencing, the defence lawyers led by senior advocates N Hariharan and Rebecca John plead for leniency on various grounds. The defence submitted that their clients fully co-operated with the investigation and during the course of the trial. The defence appealed that Udit was a budding entrepreneur with a young family. He was also suffering from high cholesterol and high thyroid disorder. In Pradeep's case, it was submitted that he was an aged man at age 60 and was suffering from depression since his wife died in 2012. Pradeep was also suffering from high thyroid disorder, slip disc and heart disease.
The defence appealed for leniency for Aggarwal as well stating that he was the sole breadwinner of his young family. The fact that he was an employee of the firm would also need to be considered.
However, senior public prosecutor, VK Sharma strongly opposed defence submissions stating that white-collar criminals must be dealt with a heavy hand. Sharma asserted that leniency would prove to be counter-productive in the long run and against the interest of the society.
Sharma asserted that the nation lost when not a single gram of coal was extracted. The company may not have benefitted from the sale of coal, but the nation lost on the usage of coal – something that is important for the industrial development of a nation.
RSPL was the second private firm to be convicted in the Coalgate scam. Earlier in the year, the court convicted Jharkand Ispat Private Limited (JILP) and its two directors for illegal allocation of coal blocks.
In March 2014, a draft report released by the Comptroller Audit General (CAG) stated that the government exchequer lost Rs1.86 crore because it chose to allot the coal blocks to private entities and Public Sector Units (PSU) instead of auctioning it during the years 2004-2009. However in 2012, following a complaint lodged by Bharatiya Janata Part (BJP) – the opposition party at the time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated an inquiry to probe allegations of corruption. Consequently, an First Information Report (FIR) report was filed by the probe agency that accused almost a dozen firms overstating their net worth, failing to disclose prior coal allocations, and hoarding rather than developing coal allocations.
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