PANJIM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) appears to be caught in a legal dilemma in the long-pending high-profile Louis Berger money laundering prosecution involving PWD Minister Digambar Kamat and former minister Churchill Alemao.
While the ED’s complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has already crossed crucial judicial stages including cognisance by the Special Court, Mapusa and framing of charge, the central agency is still confronted with the unresolved issue of prosecution sanction from the Goa Governor.
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The issue has arisen because both Kamat and Alemao have challenged before the High Court of Bombay at Goa that the ED had not obtained prior sanction to prosecute them even as charges have been framed against them by the trial Court. Their argument is that as public servants, prosecution under the predicate corruption offences required a proper sanction from the competent constitutional authority before proceedings could continue.
Both applicants relied on the Supreme Court order in 2025, which stated that the ED must obtain prior government sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before prosecuting a public servant even when the alleged acts exceed official duties, provided such acts are reasonably connected with the discharge of official functions.
This has effectively pushed the ED into a contradictory position. Representing the ED, Adv Sidharth Samant made submissions along with a compilation of judgments. According to Adv Samant, the ED had never opted for government sanction since it never registers the cases but investigates them further in predicate cases. The government must consider whether sanction can be granted when the Special Court had already taken cognisance of the ED complaint and framed charges against both leaders under Section 3 of the PMLA, directing them to face trial.
The ED had initially sought prosecution sanction from the Goa Assembly Speaker on the ground that Kamat and Churchill were sitting MLAs when the money laundering complaint was being processed. However, the agency subsequently realised that the Speaker’s authority was limited only to granting sanction to sitting MLAs. The ED later sought prosecution from the Goa Governor and has been awaiting the Governor’s response for the last four months.
The High Court has posted both the criminal revisions applications for arguments on Monday, April 27.
Kamat and Alemao were accused of receiving bribes totalling $976,000 to grant contracts for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project in Goa. Funded by JICA, the Rs 1,031-crore project was approved when the Kamat-led government was in power. This project included augmenting water supply in South Goa and laying sewerage lines in the major cities. JICA had secured the consultancy for the project.
