Why FM chose to keep it vague

The CBI would be able to register an FIR—or a ‘‘regular case (RC),’’ as it is called in the agency’s jargon—only when it has ‘‘information’’ relating to the commission of any cognizable offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

But, for all its objections to the procedural aspects of the disinvestment transaction (such as the fixation of the reserve price not being consistent with the normal practice and the various relaxations given to the sole bidder), the CAG report contains no information on any wrongful loss to the exchequer and much less so on any illegal gains made by anybody. In the absence of such information, the only kind of CBI probe that is possible is what is called ‘‘preliminary enquiry (PE),’’ which is done informally outside the framework of the Criminal Procedure Code to see whether a case can be registered at all.

But then if the Government had taken recourse to a PE today, it would have amounted to admitting that there was no material yet to book a case against Arun Shourie and his team.

That is why Chidambaram announced the probe without specifying who would conduct it and what the allegations were. Even otherwise, Chidambaram has laid himself open to the charge of trying to pre-empt a scrutiny of the CAG report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In the normal course, the CAG report would have next gone before PAC, consisting of 22 members from all parties and headed by BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Since his announcement is open-ended, one of the options Chidambaram may use is to appoint a commission of inquiry headed by a retired judge. This is typically a time-consuming process that could stretch to years. And again, the question of registering an FIR in connection with the Centaur deal will arise only if the judicial inquiry recommends one.