Team Herald
PANJIM: Five years after the first chargesheet was filed in the Louis Berger scam, involving former Congress Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, members of the Goa Congress, Kamat’s previous party met the CBI Goa SP Ashesh Kumar asking him to “take over” the investigations of this and other pending corruption cases.
However, long before Kamat went back to the BJP, the Louis Berger case has literally been in cold storage.
The prime witness James McClung still absconding
The fate of the Louis Berger corruption case hangs in balance as the prime witness in the corruption case remains absconding. The attempts of the investigating agency to bring one of the prime witnesses James McClung to India have found no success. Meanwhile, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao have challenged the charge sheet filed against them by the ED in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case before the High Court of Bombay at Goa.
In 2015, the Louis Berger corruption case rocked the State of Goa after several big names like Kamat, Churchill, engineers of JICA cell and several others from the Louis Berger firm were in the dock over corruption charges. Two charge sheets were filed one in a corruption case and the second in a money laundering case.
The corruption charges were filed against Digambar Kamat, Churchill Alemao, JICA project director Anand Wachasundar, Louis Berger vice-president Satyakam Mohanty, and three others. However, Mohanty has since then passed away.
Since the money laundering angle was in the charge sheet, the Enforcement Directorate started investigating the charges under the PMLA Act and filed a charge sheet against former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
The Enforcement Directorate through the Union government is in correspondence with the United States of America (USA) for a long time in a bid to bring the prime witness James McClung to India. However, even after giving the evidence to the USA, the latter seems to be not inclined to India’s request for extradition of McClung, the then senior vice-president of Louis Berger in charge of India and Vietnam. According to the ED, McClung has the key to the information in this case even as the trial has hit a deadlock.
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Tale of two chargesheets
& a missing witness
The Louis Berger case was investigated by the Crime Branch, which filed a chargesheet in 2017 which had both corruption and money laundering charges in the Mapusa Sessions Court. The corruption charges were filed against Digambar Kamat, Churchill Alemao, JICA project director Anand Wachasundar, Louis Berger vice-president Satyakam Mohanty, and three others. However, Mohanty has since then passed away.
Since the money laundering angle was in the charge sheet, the Enforcement Directorate started investigating the charges under PMLA Act and filed another charge sheet in 2019 against former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
James McClung then senior vice-president of Louis Berger in charge of India and Vietnam was named witness in the main corruption case.
Digambar Kamat and Churchill Alemao challenged the charge sheet filed against them by the ED in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case before the High Court of Bombay.