New Delhi, Nov 27: In a setback to CBI, a Delhi court hearing the Rs 133-crore urea scam case today rejected the agency's plea for probe in the matter with the help of Kkazakhstan government. Special judge A K Garg turned down CBI's letter rogatory saying it was too late now to conduct any investigation. CBI said it wanted the help of Kazakhastan now to probe into whether a portion of the scam money was deposited in banks in that country. It could not be probed earlier as the mutual legal assistance treaty with Kazakhstan came into effect only in December 2000, it said. Meanwhile, the court also dismissed an application of accused A E Pinto asking for separation of trial. Pinto, a Brazilian, said he wanted a separate fast-track trial as the co-accused were delaying the case. The court rejected this plea saying the trial was proceeding as per schedule. However, the court allowed CBI's application seeking to examine the then Deputy Inspector General N P Singh saying Singh could depose on December 15.

According to the agency, Turkish firm Karsan had taken 38 million dollar in advance from national fertiliser limited for supply of 2,00,000 mt of urea. But not even a single grain of urea reached the country.

Bureau Report