Corporate espionage case: CBI arrests commerce ministry employee

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested an absconding commerce ministry employee for his alleged role into the leakage and sale of confidential government documents stolen from his and the finance ministries.

Daljeet Singh, an upper division clerk in the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), was arrested from his hideout here.

"Singh was allegedly providing the confidential documents to his counterparts in the ministry of finance who in turn were giving it away for consideration to Mumbai-based chartered accountant (CA), and later these documents were passed to various corporate houses," said a CBI official.

The CBI on March 12 filed a case and raided eight places, including offices of various ministries and private establishments, in New Delhi and Mumbai, and arrested Under Secretary in department of disinvestment and grievances Ashok Kumar Singh along with section officer of economic affairs department Lala Ram Sharma.

The CBI had also raided Singh's house but he managed to escape.

Chartered accountant Khemchand Gandhi was also arrested from Mumbai during the raid conducted by the CBI.

Investigators said that Singh used to provide the commerce ministry documents to Ashok Kumar and Lala Ram Sharma who passed it to Gandhi.

The CBI had on March 13 arrested two more people - Ram Niwas, an assistant in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) under the finance ministry, along with Paresh Chimanlal Buddhadev, a partner in private firm Chitale Associates.

The probing agency also revealed the the alleged role of a representative of Price waterhouseCoopers (PwC), a MNC which provides tax and consulting services, and was being probed.

PwC, which has offices in over 150 countries of the world and its Indian subsidiary is PwC Private Ltd, said in a statement later that its manager met CBI officials and gave necessary clarifications.

"Our manager met CBI officials today in connection with the FIPB applications filed by our clients and the official communication that we have exchanged with FIPB in this regard, in the normal course of business. Necessary clarification as asked for were provided," it said.