Corporate espionage: CBI to summon RIL official, CA

Taking forward the investigations in the corporate espionage case, the CBI said it will be summoning an official of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and a chartered accountant (CA), besides arresting an upper division clerk (UDC) in the Commerce Ministry on Monday.

Daljeet Singh, the UDC in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Commerce Ministry, was apprehended for his involvement in leaking secret documents, taking the number of arrests to six.  Singh is claimed to have leaked documents related to foreign investments in HDFC Bank and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

Sources said a RIL official and a CA, Rajendra Chitale, will be summoned. The RIL official is claimed to be in touch with Khemchand Gandhi, who was arrested on charges of providing confidential documents sourced from the Commerce Ministry and Finance Ministry.

The CBI had on Thursday said it has cracked a racket of CAs and government officials who were involved in selling of confidential documents on foreign investment policies to corporates.Searches were conducted in Delhi and Mumbai, which included offices under the Finance Ministry and Commerce Ministry, residences of its officials and a CA in Mumbai.
Sources said they had recovered file notings related to FIPB proposal of HDFC bank which was cleared last year after being rejected initially as well as that on the Jet-Etihad deal besides others.

“We categorically deny having known or heard of, let alone interacted with the individual named in these news reports. Any suggestion that we may have indulged in any wrongdoing is completely baseless and untrue,” HDFC Bank had said in a statement.
The CBI also examined an official of PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) following suspicion that he was obtaining documents from Khemchand. The PwC official is claimed to have received documents related to his clients as well as rivals.

“Our manager met CBI officials today (Monday) in connection with the FIPB applications filed by our clients and the official communication that we have exchanged with FIPB in this regard, in the normal course of business. Necessary clarification as asked for were provided,” the company said.

RIL spokesperson denied that any of their staff received CBI summons. “No RIL staff has received such a summon. The information that is being floated is baseless,” it stated.