Online BusinessRs 120-cr NTPC scam: CBI team to visit England soon
A two-member CBI team will soon leave for Britain to follow the trail of about Rs 120 crore allegedly received by an Indian entity from a Russian firm to secure an equipment supply order from the state-owned power major NTPC.
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The money ($20 lakh) continues to be "restrained" (or the account is frozen) in a London bank for the past three years, according to the Crown Prosecutor Service of Britain.
The CBI is investigating into the alleged irregularities in NTPC awarding a contract to Russian power equipment supplier Technopromexport (TPE) to supply equipments for its Rs 8,600-crore 1,980-mw Barh (Bihar) Super Thermal Power Project in 2005.
Crown Prosecutor Service (CPS) spokesperson Julie Seddon said, "the account continues to remain frozen." Asked whether anyone made any bid to de-freeze the account, Seddon, in an email response to PTI said, "there has been no application to discharge the restraint order."
While the spokesperson refused to identify the bank where the amount is parked, CBI sources said the account is with the Natwest Bank, which was frozen by the CPS after the CBI requested for the same.
The account belongs to Ravina Associates, an Indian firm that has been providing consultancy services to the Russian company TPE, which bagged the contract for the 1,980-mw Barh power project in February 2005.
Refusing to share more information, the CPS spokesperson made it clear that "a restraint order is an interim remedy made in private as it concerns the confidential financial affairs of suspects or defendants who have not yet been convicted."