The Hindu : Front Page : CBI asked to probe Centaur Hotels deal

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Friday, Jul 22, 2005

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Front Page

CBI asked to probe Centaur Hotels deal

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has received a communication from the Government to probe the Centaur Hotels disinvestment case. The privatisation of the two hotels at Sahar airport and Juhu in Mumbai that sparked off a controversy was taken up and executed by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government.

Well-placed sources said the Government had asked the CBI to probe the alleged infirmities in the privatisation of the two State-run hotels in Mumbai.

The Government is learnt to have sent a note to the CBI, asking it to probe the multi-crore deal finalised when Arun Shourie was Disinvestment Minister.

The deal has come under attack from the Left parties and the Congress.

BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar described the Government decision as a "politics of revenge."

He said the Government "knows there is nothing to inquire."

He said that after a detailed examination of the Juhu Hotel disinvestment, this Government itself submitted a note to the Comptroller and Auditor-General in January this year justifying the concepts used and the procedures followed.

Mr. Shourie had already stated that he was ready to assist every authority in whatever inquiry Government decreed, Mr. Javadekar said.

Mr. Shourie defended the deal and said he would cooperate with every inquiry and agency, which the Government chooses. "I will go to any office at any time the CBI designates," he said.

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