Amidst charges of financial irregularities and misuse of public funds levelled by senior opposition Parliamentarians, the government has given a clean chit to the Ruias-promoted Essar Group, which is striving hard to start work on its Rs 9,000-crore refinery in Gujarat.

Responding to queries made by a few members of Parliament (MPs) from Gujarat, law minister Arun Jaitley stated recently that "the allegations made by Amar Singh (Samajwadi Party) and other MPs against the company have been examined and the same have not been substantiated."

Amar Singh had earlier alleged "corruption, deception and the manipulative activities in the Essar Group" saying that it had indulged in misappropriation and misuse of public funds.

Following Jaitley's letter to A K Patel (BJP), about ten MPs from Gujarat wrote to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee seeking help for completion of 10.5 million tonne refinery adjacent to Reliance's 27 million tonne Jamnagar refinery.

On the other hand, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has written to the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), which is meeting next week for disbursal of loan for the refinery project, wondering how the financial institution had sanctioned loan to the company "controlled by the Ruia family".

When contacted, Essar spokesperson said "concerted attempts have been made from time to time to stall/ delay various projects undertaken by Essar Oil by rival forces ever since Essar Oil started implementing its refinery project."

On construction of the 10.5 million tonne refinery, the Essar spokesperson said: "We have achieved financial closure for the project. We have also obtained all approvals and mandatory clearances required for the same. We expect to resume construction work shortly."