The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to expeditiously look into the allegations that power companies, including those belonging to the Adani Group and the Essar Group, were over-invoicing their coal imports, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Mini Pushkarna issued the directions on two Public Interest Litigations filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a non-governmental organisation, and activist Harsh Mander.

The petitions, filed in 2017, sought a special investigation team to look into the allegations that various entities of the Adani Group and the Essar Group were over-invoicing their imported goods to siphon off money abroad.

The petitioners presented before the court notices by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence – a financial investigative agency under the Ministry of Finance – dated May 15, 2014, and March 31, 2016, issued in this regard.

In 2016, the agency had issued a circular alleging that Adani Group companies were being investigated for “artificially inflating” coal imports from Indonesia to siphon off money abroad and to get higher power tariff compensation.

The agency alleged that the coal shipments from Indonesia were directly imported to India but were first billed at higher prices at the conglomerate’s Singapore unit, Adani Global Pte. Since 2016, the agency has been trying to get transaction documents related to the conglomerate’s dealings in Singapore through letters rogatory.

Letters rogatory are formal requests to foreign countries to seek judicial help in investigating offshore entities.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence told the High Court on Tuesday that its investigation into over-invoicing by power companies was divided into multiple cases due to the large number of parties and intermediaries involved, especially those located overseas, reported Live Law.

The Central Bureau of Investigation also submitted that it had initiated an inquiry against various power entities.

Disposing the petitions, the court noted that several proceedings were pending before several other forums and asked the agencies concerned to look into the allegations “meticulously and expeditiously”.

On October 9 this year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, in a filing had asked the Supreme Court to quash the Bombay High Court order quashing the letters rogatory as it prevents the agency from obtaining evidence from Singapore, reported Reuters.

The agency had also dismissed the submissions of the Adani Group that it has not followed the “due process”, arguing that it received approval from India’s Ministry of Finance as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek information from Singapore under a mutual legal assistance treaty.

The conglomerate, however, told Reuters that it had fully cooperated with the authorities and provided documents it had asked over four years ago. A statement added that the investigators did not communicate any “deficiency or objection”.