Calling it a political game, AAP questioned Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s position in the matter. Party secretary Valmiki Naik said that if the minister had information on the case when he was CM he should have acted on it and alleged that Parrikar’s silence on the bribe was an act of corruption as well.
The party also hit out at Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar asking him to get his facts right. In response to Parsekar’s claim that only a few people from Louis Berger were corrupt and not the company itself, Naik said, “In the year 2010, Louis Berger was fined US $ 65 million in another corruption scandal, compared to the US $ 17.1 million fine in the current case.”
With Crime Branch filing an FIR in the case, the party raised a query as to why no names were included in it. The US Department of Justice’s investigation into bribery charges against the company also pointed to several Goan ministers involved in taking bribes.
“The department is ready to divulge this information to the government. Why do they not ask for the names of the ministers involved and file an FIR” against them directly?” asked party member Dr Oscar Rebello.
Urging that the matter not be turned into a political circus, AAP Goa asked the people of Goa to think of the situation and ask whether a single rupee would be recovered or if a single politician would be brought to justice.
The party also announced that the Ponda unit will be filing a case with the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in Ponda regarding the Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar alleged fake degree.
The party had last month produced documents pointing to the minister allegedly faking his educational qualifications on a signed affidavit before the 2012 elections.
