Indicating that it was not satisfied with the re-assertion of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry authorising it to go ahead with the audit of KG-D6 block, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) office has stated that it will resume the stalled audit only after an assurance of access to all the documents of the contractor, Reliance Industries (RIL).
In a letter to the Ministry, the CAG, which had suspended the audit on January 9 after a meeting with RIL representatives, said it wanted the discretion for records to be requisitioned to vest with the government or its auditor (CAG) and wanted the Petroleum Ministry to ensure that RIL provided access to all the documents requisitioned. At the same time, the CAG said it was not doing a performance audit of RIL but wanted to examine all the propriety expenses made by the company. It was also very clear that the audit report would be placed before Parliament.
Stating that it is willing to resume the audit, the letter states: “The audit would be the financial and propriety audit and the purpose of the audit was to ensure that the government’s financial interests have been safeguarded.”
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The Petroleum Ministry had, early this month, written to CAG defining the scope and nature of the audit and had stated that it had all the right to undertake the audit of RIL’s KG-D6 block on behalf of the government.
CAG said it was in agreement with this scope of audit provided the ministry agreed with it on the issue of requisition of records and access.