The preliminary enquiry was registered earlier this year against the four officers, all of deputy GM rank, for giving a positive report to a company, Treto Chem Specialities Limited, in respect of an ONGC tender for manufacture of 294.29 MT of water injection corrosion inhibitor. The CBI was looking into allegations that Treto did not have the capacity to meet the tender requirements.

When contacted, (CBI) DIG K P Raghuvanshi denied that the IO had recommended a closure of the case, and affirmed that the investigation was still on. Reliable sources, however inform that the IO, Jayshree Rao, has indeed recommended a closure. Treto Chem was an MSSIDC certified unit, and was entitled to a 10 per cent price preference, being an indigenous manufacturer. WhileMSSIDC (Treto Chem) quoted Rs 56805 per MT, other companies (Deva Drill Pvt Ltd) quoted Rs 54663 per MT and (Petrolink) quoted Rs 58522.

ONGC apparently wanted to award approximately 70 per cent of the order to Treto Chem and 30 per cent to Deva Drill. In the process of confirmation, a committee of ONGC officers -- A Kaviraj, M Venugopal, Dr Zainullah and C V Nair -- visited the Tretochem factory in July 1997. They gave a positive report, following which the ONGC placed the supply order with Treto Chem. But there were charges that Treto did not have the required capacity, and the CBI took up the case.

The vigilance department of the ONGC, with the CBI, sought the opinion of a government approved valuer -- Prototype Engineering Company -- on the production capacity and quality standards of Treto Chem, with a view to ascertain the veracity of the allegations. Prototype made one inspection in September 1997, and opined that the unit did not look like a manufacturing unit and the machines were deeplyrusted. ``The equipments in the supposed-to-be production hall are not complete. It is also not sufficient for manufacture of corrosion inhibitors, as the capacity of the units is too small to manufacture any economic batch quantity,'' the valuer observed. Further, at a joint visit by CBI and ONGC (vigilance) officials with the valuer, Alan D'Silva, Treto-Chem MD admitted that the unit had been making losses for the last ten years. Besides, ONGC (Sibsagar) had, in 1996, invoked a bank guarantee furnished by Treto in another supply order, for failure of the sample test of the same inhibitor. In the CBI, the IO's report would have to be scrutinised by senior officers including the DIG and the joint director, for a final decision.