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

The remarks to IANS 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 told IANS, 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.

The remarks also assume significance in the wake of the Anil Ambani group alleging that Reliance Industries had gold-plated -- or grossly overstated -- the capital expenditure for the production of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.

Subsequently, the Director General of Hydrocarbons - the regulator and custodian of the country's oil assets - had said that the capital expenditure was above board since the official auditor has duly looked it into the same.

'The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) team has carried out the audit work. A CAG audit has recently been completed,' Sibal had said in a statement, while seeking to give a clean chit to Reliance Industries.