Within a day of the Centre deciding to give counter-guarantee for the project after the recent Supreme Court judgement quashing the high court order and giving a clean chit to promoters, Agarwal told reporters that he would move the US department of justice and Securities Exchange Commission over alleged kick-backs in the deal.

Asked about the apex court ruling on December 13, Agarwal who is practicising law at Karnataka high court, said "the SC verdict is tantamount to saying that all economic decisions should be left to the sole discretion of the governemnt".

Alleging that Cogentrix, which owned 60 per cent stake in the fast-track project with the remaining 40 per cent held by China Light and Power company, was the `mother of all scams', Agarwal said "I have lost hope in the Indian judiciary and would be appealing US Justice department under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." Officials of Cogentrix had agreed to reconsider their earlier decision to pull out from the project if Centre gave the draft counter-guarantee soon and Karnataka government reaffirmed the PPA signed in 1997, could not be contacted.