Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by him, will work towards giving functional autonomy to CBI but at the same time asserted that accountability is important.

Mr. Chidambaram said this in an interview with a TV news Channel yesterday that the goverment will give CBI functional autonomy and will ensure a large degree of functional autonomy to the agency in the matters of investigation.

Mr. Chidambaram's comments came three days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the constitution of the high-powered Group of Ministers (GoM) to finalise a plan of action to secure autonomy for the CBI.

The Finance Minister, who is on an official visit to the UK on the first leg of this three-nation tour to woo foreign investors, also addressed the issue of accountability.

He said, all over the world, all bodies are accountable to somebody but we have to ensure that no one interferes with the investigations of the CBI.