New Delhi:
With BJP and CPI (M) raking up the issue of "illegal" funds being given by some US companies to certain Indian entities, the government on Tuesday said a probe has already been ordered to ascertain facts of the matter.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said the letter of Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, dated May 12, reached here when the country was in the midst of Lok Sabha polls.
"As soon as the government settled down, a probe was ordered," the sources said, adding "everything in the case is being looked into." According to Shankar's letter to the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair, prominent Indian organisations which received funds include Maharashtra State Electricity Board (which got payments from Mario Covino of Control Companies), Indian Railways (by Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) and Central Insecticides Board (by Dow Chemicals).
The US companies have been booked under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the US, according to the letter. BJP on Monday released the Ambassador's letter and questioned the government's silence on the matter saying it "amounts to shielding the corrupt. This means the government does only pep talk on the issue of corruption."
Expressing concern over the development, CPI (M) on Monday asked the government to take firm action against persons who allegedly took bribes and blacklist all US firms involved in it.