Taking forward the investigation into the case, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police is now probing whether Prayas Jain, one of the arrested consultants, shared any confidential documents with neighbouring countries.
Investigators have scanned Jain’s website and learned that some foreign nationals were among his clients.
The leaking of crucial documents from official files of the oil ministry has been one of the worst-kept secrets of the Union government.
What has come to light through the dramatic arrest of some top corporate executives, consultants and government employees is that the rot spreads beyond the oil ministry, across the length and breadth of the government machinery.
Meanwhile, sources told INNLIVE that after sustained interrogation, Jain said that he has over 250 clients worldwide from private companies dealing in power, coal, oil and gas.
“He told the police that he used to sell secrets and classified documents to his clients as per their requirements after procuring them from multi-tasking employees (MTS) working in the petroleum, coal and power ministries,” a source said, adding: “Prayas Jain used to pay as much as Rs 1 lakh for these documents.”
“We are now checking if some Budget and Cabinet notes were passed on to corporate houses situated in countries like Pakistan and China. We are checking further into this and the probe could expand to other ministries as well,” a police source said.
After completing his schooling from Bal Bharti Public School in Delhi, Jain went to Australia where he completed his Bachelors in business administration, accounting and business management from Victoria University. He had been running Metis Business Solutions Private Limited since May 2009.
The consultancy company deals with power, coal, oil, and gas, with its head office in Melbourne, Australia.
Prior to that, Jain worked as commercial accounts manager with Victorial Electricity from August 2004 to July 2007. Between August 2007 and October 2008, Jain worked as manager with Infraline Energy.
Well-placed sources told INNLIVE that Jain met with an employee of the Petroleum Ministry, identified as Lokesh, who was part of the multi-tasking staff (MTS) in Shastri Bhawan.
“After some months, he quit his job and started his own consultant company in Patel Nagar. With the help of Lokesh, Jain later met two other former MTS employees, Lalta Prasad (36), Rakesh Kumar (30), and roped them in.
"Jain offered them big money and asked them to steal confidential documents for him. He used to pay as much as Rs 65,000 to Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar, and Rs 40,000 to Lokesh,” police sources claimed.
An officer with the Crime Branch said that 30-year-old Jain has good contacts in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
“Jain told the police that he had organised India Gas Infrastructure Summit- 2015 last month in the Capital’s Le Meridien Hotel where he had invited senior officers of the petroleum ministry. The programme was mainly sponsored by Oil India, and senior officers from several ministries came to attend the event,” the officer added.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is also trying to find out about the foreign visits of several senior officers from different Union ministries, as they suspect that many of the visits were sponsored junkets. Visits in the last two years are under the scanner of intelligence agencies.
Delhi Police busted the corporate spying ring in the petroleum ministry after being alerted by the IB. They have arrested 12 people, including a former journalist and five corporate executives, along with peons in the ministry.
Assocham wants lobbying legalised
In the wake of a major crackdown on corporate espionage involving private sector companies, Assocham has pitched for legalising lobbying to improve transparency in government-industry dealings.
“Each of the Indian and multinational companies should be within its rights to operate with full freedom. They also should have a right to engage in lobbying groups to advance their line of arguments and convince the decisionmaking authorities that they have merit. Lobbying should no more be considered as a dirty word,” Assocham Secretary General D.S. Rawat said in a statement.
During the previous UPA rule, then corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot had favoured putting in place a proper framework for lobbying while defining what is legal and what is not.
“We need to be clear as to what lobbying means. We have to first define what the act of lobbying means... Lobbying could mean different things in different context,” he had said.
“...It is wrong to assume that lobbying means bribery, but some people allege that it is bribery,” Pilot had said.
Calling for transparency in the decision-making process, Assocham wondered why policies which have a bearing on corporates should be shrouded in secrecy. Demanding that the Narendra Modi government implement in letter and spirit its slogan of ‘minimum governance’, Assocham said the only way to get rid of corporate espionage in the labyrinth of state machinery is introducing complete transparency and demolishing the four walls of secrecy around the process of decision-making.
“In any case, why should the government’s decision-making concerning policies which have a bearing on corporates be shrouded in secrecy?” Rawat asked.
MHA staff 'were bribed for fake entry passes'
The Spygate stink has now reached the office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Investigations into the corporate espionage case have allegedly revealed that two former multi-tasking staff (MTS) at Shastri Bhawan, Lalta Prasad (36) and Rakesh Kumar (30), procured passes with one-year validity for entry into the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas after paying bribe to MHA officials. They paid Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for each pass.
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police will now grill these two MHA officials and other suspects. More arrests are likely in the coming days.
In a related development, Crime Branch officers will talk to oil ministry special secretary Rajive Kumar, joint secretary (refineries) Sandeep Poundrik, joint secretary (exploration) UP Singh and director (exploration- 1) Nalin Kumar Srivastava, as the arrested accused had allegedly entered their rooms to steal official documents.
A senior police officer of the Crime Branch said Lalta Prasad and Rakesh are brothers and had been temporarily employed as MTS at Shastri Bhawan. In 2012, both quit.
“During their stint, they used to get passes from MHA with the validity of one year and would then enter petroleum and other ministry offices at Shastri Bhawan. Once inside, they could access official documents,” the officer alleged.
Sources familiar with the investigation told INNLIVE that after quitting they approached officials in the MHA and offered bribe of `15,000 for each entry pass.
“After procuring these passes, they entered the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas office in 2013 and 2014. Police have recovered these passes from their possession and now will question officials of MHA in the coming days,” a source said, adding that they entered inside Shastri Bhawan in their Tata Indica car which also had a fake sticker.
Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar was interrogated on Sunday morning along with ADAG Reliance general manager Rishi Anand, Cairn Energy general manager K.K. Naik, Jubilant Energy senior executive Shubhash Chandra, RIL (corporate communication) manager Shailesh Saxena, and Essar deputy general manager Vinay Kumar in the Inter-State Cell office of the Crime Branch.
“Every month, accused Lalta Prasad, along with his associates, used to earn Rs 5 lakh from five top corporate executives and two owners of consultant firms. Interestingly, they had decided that they would lure lower staff of other ministries, including coal ministry,” police sources added.
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