Shourie vindicated; Centaur sale clean, CBI tells govt

NEW DELHI: The Time for vindication has come. The UPA government, which attempted to push former disinvestment minister Arun Shourie into a corner by instituting a CBI inquiry into the sale of Centaur Hotels, has failed to make out a case against the process or people who handled the privatisation exercise. CBI sources told ET that it has told the finance ministry that ���no criminal case can be made out��� on the issue.

Mr Shourie has reasons to be happy as the government, under pressure from Left parties, had ordered a probe nearly three years ago. In its report, the CBI said no irregularities were found in the sale of the two hotels in early 2000.

The hotels were sold to Batra Hospitality and Tulips, respectively. During the probe, which had begun on August 12, 2005, the CBI never even felt the need to record the statement of Mr Shourie who had offered all co-operation.

But the agency is sure to attract the charge of politically calibrating investigations. A press release from the agency three years ago had attempted to suggest wrong-doing when it claimed that there was inadequacy on the part of the then government in generating competition for the sale. The agency had also claimed that there was no adequate scrutiny of the bidder.

After coming to power, the government, with the prompting of the Left, had instituted probe into various deals and agreements signed during the NDA rule. This included defence purchases that India made during the Kargil war.

The clean chit from the CBI, which has kicked the bottom of the Left���s claims, will reinforce the impression that the Left sensitivities are dictating the policy movements of the government. It was the UPA government���s inability to stand up to the pressure from the Left that forced the regime to put the disinvestment process in the freezer.