Last week, The Caravan released, in part, a list that had been circulated among senior officials at Essar—an Indian conglomerate that has investments in sectors such as steel, infrastructure and energy. The list, which will be released in full this week, revealed that the company had sent out close to 195 iPads as Diwali gifts to several journalists, politicians and bureaucrats in the country. This document was the latest in a long string of revelations often termed the Essar Leaks. Some of these disclosures also suggested that Essar had granted favours to senior politicians such as Nitin Gadkari , the union minister for road transport and highways, and Pranab Mukherjee , the president of India. It now appears that the company may have more than just these allegations to worry about.

A show-cause notice issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, against the company in March this year indicates that Essar may have been siphoning off money from India through its network of companies abroad. The group has allegedly creamed off foreign exchange of over Rs 2,600 crore. It has done this through imports of equipment for its power companies. A copy of the 247-page notice is in the Caravan’s possession.

The notice—signed by P K Dash, the additional director general of the DRI—contains diagrams that illustrate the maze of companies that the group invested in, formed, or bought in Dubai, Mauritius, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and Cayman Islands. It also includes tabulated information on the import consignments that were used to siphon the money, their values and the invoices.

According to the notice, the alleged inflation of values of imported goods by Essar Power Gujarat Limited (EPGL) is Rs 637.71 crore; that of Essar Power MP Limited (EPMPL) is Rs 556.93 crore; that of Essar Oil Limited (EOL) is Rs 655.67 crore and; that of Essar Projects India Limited (EPIL) is Rs 750.54 crore. This makes the total value of the alleged inflation Rs 2600.87 crore. The notice stated that Essar inflated the import values by about 40 per cent.

Between 2008 and 2014, the goods imported by the four Essar companies—EOL, EPGL, EPMPL and EPIL— were received directly from the suppliers abroad. The companies that were supplying the equipment are in China, South Korea and Europe. EPGL and EPMPL were importing Boiler-Turbine-Generator (BTG) goods for their coal-based plants at Salaya in Gujarat and Mahan in Madhya Pradesh respectively. EOL imported equipment for its crude oil refinery at Vadinar in Jamnagar, Gujarat. EPIL was the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for a urea fertiliser plant that belonged to Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals at Durgapur in West Bengal.