CAG forms team to audit RIL spends

 
The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG), which has been asked to do special audit of not only RIL but also Cairn India’s Rajasthan block and British energy firm BG Group- operated Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields, has constituted various teams for undertaking the audit, sources said. It is understood that CAG is thinking of deploying a high profile team comprising P K Mishra, Principal Director, A K Awasthi, Additional Deputy Director, and Dharamendra Kumar, Director, besides many auditors.

It is also understood that scope of this audit will far exceed the normal course of audit by CAG and the prime objective may be to detect fraud, if any, by the operator (RIL) allegedly in collusion with oil regulator DGH and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. It is expected that the audit may take several months to complete, sources said.

List of documents

CAG was asked by the oil ministry to audit the accounts of RIL, which is facing allegations of gold-plating gas field costs that has increased four-fold to US$8.8 billion. RIL had on August 17 agreed to an audit by the counry’s premier audit body.

CAG has so far sought from RIL a list of relevant documents for KG D-6 fields, as it has sorted out issues like legal tenability of audit of production sharing contract (PSCs) and enforceability of corrective steps.

CAG had earlier complained that it could not make any headway in the last two years in the absence of access to the books of private operators, including RIL. While the ministry wanted special audit of accounts from 2003-04 fiscal, CAG wanted the scope of examination of records be restricted to 2006-07 and 2007-08 only.