Ispat Industries: CBI to identify 'beneficiary' officials

Two years after the Income Tax department conducted raids on ISPAT Industries Limited, the CBI has finally begun a probe into it.

Senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh's name was dragged into the controversy after several entries in the documents seized by the I-T department referred to payments made to 'VBS', totalling Rs 2.80 crore.

The CBI's probe will try to identify government officials who were allegedly shown as beneficiaries in the seized documents. There were entries that showed payments were made to the Coal Ministry, State Trading Corporation and MSTC.

"Investigations will make it clear whether VBS was Virbhadra Singh or payments were made to some other individual. There are also entries in the register which says 'amount paid to Min of Steel APS' and 'amount paid to MOS APS', which will be looked into," said a senior CBI official. The agency is also looking into the entries that refer to 'payments to CBI, ED and CVC'.

Sources said the findings of the raids were forwarded to the CBI in Mumbai by the I-T department in 2010 for 'suitable action'. The CBI, which initiated a probe after media reports highlighted the alleged 'payments to VBS', said that they will soon question officials of IIL at Mumbai and Delhi. "We have contacted the Income Tax department seeking details regarding tax evasion by IIL," said a CBI official.

When contacted, spokesperson for JSW Ispat Steel Limited, which now has majority stake in IIL, said, "We are in no way concerned with the I-T raids. We do not have any document related to the raids."

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