No official, Kumar Mangalam Birla pursued any unlawful means: Hindalco

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla group flagship firm Hindalco today said none of its officials, including Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had pursued any unlawful or inappropriate means to secure allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha.

Reacting to the special CBI court's summon on Birla, the company and two of its top officials as accused in a coal scam case, the company said that it would defend its case through "legal process" after studying order of the special court.

"Hindalco reiterates that none of its officials, including its Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, have pursued any unlawful or inappropriate means for securing the allocation of the coal block," the company said in a statement.

It further said that Hindalco would study the order of the court in detail "and would defend its case through legal process."

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Birla and former Coal Secretary PC Parakh were summoned as accused by the special court which observed that Singh was roped into the criminal conspiracy to "accommodate" M/s HINDALCO in Talabira-II coal block allocation in 2005.

Hindalco said it "cooperated with investigating authorities completely during the course of investigation" and its management was confident that it would "stand vindicated at the end of the ongoing legal process".

The coal block was deallocated in 2014. Aditya Aluminium Project, for which this allocation was made, has been implemented by the company at an investment of over Rs 13,000 crore in Odisha.

"The plant is already operational even though Talabira-II & III coal block could not become operational for want of clearances. Consequently, Hindalco is having to suffer irrecoverable financial stress," the company said.