Has the war on corruption, as the Louis Berger case was billed, ended with the High Court quashing the application of the Goa Crime Branch to set aside the order of the Special Court granting anticipatory bail to former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat? Kamat has literally returned from the doors of prison and in a country where reputations are made or marred depending on whether you have gone “in” or not, Diggubab, with the blessings of the Lord Dambab, can breathe free, his reputation dented but not destroyed.
On the other hand Mr Churchill Alemao has had a 69 day stint in jail and seems none the worse for it, coming out with all guns blazing, blaming the media for tarnishing his reputation and acting on the behest of his opponents. It’s a template he has followed to the hilt. Every politician across hues blames the media for tarnishing their reputation. It didn’t matter that Louis Berger had submitted to the court in New York that bribes were paid to a minister in Goa to secure water supply and sewerage contracts. It didn’t matter that statements under 164 of CrPC made by officials of Louis Berger as well as middle men, have confirmed payments made to both Alemao and Kamat, it didn’t matter that each of these statements were corroborated with others, it didn’t matter that the Enforcement Directorate teamed up with the Crime Branch to look at the money trail during and after the alleged bribe giving and taking took place.
The question that we asked needs to be asked again. After this shocking legal defeat, will the Crime Branch be able to pull itself up and be ready to fight again. Will they look beyond this court setback and crack the case, filing a fool proof charge-sheet, which details the cause of action, the sequence of action and the money trail, in a watertight investigation? The answer to this lies in whether the BJP establishment is really interested in taking this to its logical conclusion. They managed to send Alemao to jail. They drove the fear of a jail term in the heart of Digambar Kamat, enough to make him go temple hopping, the temples being both the traditional houses of God, as well as those who are perhaps even more powerful – business friends in high places, who worship the same Gods. If the BJP government in Goa had this as their desired objective, then the Crime Branch will get very little support to investigate this case with the same purpose and zeal which they showed. But perhaps even that zeal was geared towards these objectives, which have now been fulfilled.
Meanwhile the culture of corruption which has seeped into the very pore of Goa continues unabated. Crimes like bribes being accepted by the Chief Minister’s brother in-law, to bribe taking in panchayats and municipal corporations is a given. Meanwhile massive scams in GIDC, Power, PWD, are investigated but these investigations are paralysed by amnesia and Parkinson’s. The small fry are indeed caught but the big fish live to fight yet another election.
The Louis Berger bribery investigation isn’t the biggest in Goa’s history. But it could be the most significant, because it’s the best reality show on corruption Goa has even seen. We hope that the Crime Branch does indeed not give up. But freedom without fetters is not how a government functions and the lurking sad reality is that the movie may have just ended.
