New Delhi, April 16: ONGC chairman Subir Raha seems to have had the last laugh with Mani Shankar Aiyar’s exit from the petroleum ministry.

Raha capped ONGC’s presentation to the media today by saying that the company had “refused to comply with as many as 21 invalid and illegal orders of the administrative ministry which were upheld by the government in 2005-06”.

Raha brought up the issue to highlight the good corporate governance record of ONGC.

Asked to elaborate , he said, “Enough has already been written about them in the media and there was no need to speak any further on the issue.”

Clearly Raha was referring to the ministry’s attempt to appoint additional government directors, including Raha’s bete noire V.K. Sibal as director-general of hydrocarbons, on the ONGC board.