NEW DELHI: India's official auditor has on record said his office was yet to ratify the $9 billion capital expenditure claimed by
Ambani-led Reliance Industries for
tapping natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The remarks clearly run contrary to a statement by Director General of Hydrocarbons V.K. Sibal recently that the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India had already carried out the necessary audit on the matter.

"We are still to complete the audit of Reliance Industries' books. We don't have the mandate to audit the books of a private company. That is why the books were not made available to us," said Vinod Rai, CAG of India.

"We are in touch with the government to complete the audit at the earliest," Rai said, even as officials at the audit office said a letter had been written to the oil ministry to get relevant documents and responses from Reliance.