Mumbai, Aug 5 - The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group Wednesday alleged conflict of interest in naming the two experts who evaluated and validated the overstated capital cost of Krishna-Godavari gas fields, awarded to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.

Reacting to the comments by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons Tuesday, the group said both the independent expert P. Gopalakrishnan and global consultancy Mustang Engineering had conflict of interest with the Mukesh Ambani group.

'Gopalakrishnan serves the School of Petroleum Technology. Mukesh Ambani is its first president and chairman of its board of governors,' said J.P. Chalasani, chief executive of Reliance Power, which is part of the Anil Ambani group.

'Is Gopalakrishnan independent? Does he have a conflict of interest? Was it disclosed at that point of time? If it was disclosed, the petroleum ministry and the regulator would have taken a different view of engaging him for validation,' Chalasani told a press conference here.

Gopalakrishnan was a key expert, appointed by the directorate, who validated the capital expenditure of the Krishna-Godavari gas find.

In the case of Mustang Engineering, Chalasani said it was part of the UK-based John Wood group, which Reliance Industries had proposed to buy in 2006. This agency, he said, was asked to evaluate and make field development plans, along with estimating the cost.

'Mustang has also been advising Reliance Industries on various other projects.'

The comments followed remarks by Director General of Hydrocarbons V.