CBI names consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as a suspect

   CBI on Friday night arrested a finance ministry official and a partner of a Mumbai-based law firm in connection with the case.

Ram Niwas, an assistant in FIPB section, finance ministry and Paresh Chimanlal Buddhadeb, partner in Chitalay Associates, were arrested for allegedly leaking documents on government's foreign
investment policies. An official of a high profile consultancy group has come under CBI scanner in connection with its probe into the alleged sale of confidential government records on foreign investment policies to corporate groups by officials.

CBI sources said that during the questioning of five arrested persons in the case, it has come to light that an official of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was allegedly procuring documents from the department of economic affairs, under the finance ministry, through Khemchand Gandhi, chartered accountant, arrested by the agency two days back in Mumbai.

These confidential documents related to foreign direct investment policies being considered in the government, the sources said.

The agency sources said they would be probing the role of the consultancy group in detail to gather corroborative evidence and decipher the official-middleman-corporate nexus in getting hands on the confidential documents. While the CBI has claimed that a representative of the company was being probed for obtaining information from the department of economic affairs, no confirmation has been received from PwC until now.

CBI had also carried out searches at the offices of Chitale Law Associates based in Worli and Mitesh J Majithia, a chartered accountant. They were allegedly in touch with chartered accountant Khemchand Gandhi.