Team Herald
MAPUSA: The Special Sessions Court on Wednesday framed charges against former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and the then PWD Minister Churchill Alemao in connection with money laundering in the Louis Berger case.
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Charges were framed under Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act against the duo. The matter has been posted to August 2.
Both Kamat and Alemao, who appeared before the court to reply to the charges, pleaded not guilty.
Kamat said, “I was asked to respond to the charges. I have pleaded not guilty and I also said that I am innocent”.
“Court will give justice. I have full faith in the court”, Alemao said.
Special Public Prosecutor Adv Siddharth Samant was present for the hearing along with Assistant Director of Enforcement.
Kamat and Churchill appeared before the court with their lawyers namely Adv PS Rao and Adv Sahil Sardesai.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a PMLA case in 2015, based on an FIR filed by Goa Police. The charge sheet was filed in this connection before Special Court by ED in 2019. Advocate Siddharth Samant is a Special Public Prosecutor in the case.
It was alleged that the US-based firm had bribed Indian officials with several crores of rupees to win two major water developmental projects in Goa and Guwahati. It was also alleged that Kamat and Alemao had received bribes to the tune of $976,000 to grant contracts for the JICA-funded project in Goa.
The Rs 1,031-crore project, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was approved during Digambar Kamat government which includes augmentation of water supply in south Goa and laying sewerage lines in the major towns. The JICA Company had won the consultancy for the project.
In this connection, former PWD minister Churchill Alemao, JICA project director Anand Wachasunder and Louis Berger Vice President Satyakam Mohanty were arrested by the Goa Police.
