Ashwani Kumar Appointed as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Japan

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a Cabinet Minister on 22 August 2013.

The Prime Minister has nominated Ashani Kumar to visit for up to seven days as PM's Special Envoy to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India.

Ashwani Kumar resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation. The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the CBI for allowing the Law Ministry to vet the draft of its probe report on the coal allocation.