Team Herald
PANJIM: Former PWD minister Churchill Alemao and former high-level executive at Louis Berger International, James McClung, are among seven persons charged in the Louis Berger bribery scandal on Monday.
Crime Branch’s (CB) 482-page charge sheet filed before the special court has charged the company, Alemao, McClung, former JICA Project Director Anand Wachasundar, LB India’s former vice president Satyakam Mohanty, alleged hawala operator Raichand Soni and MMC Chairperson Arthur D’Silva, under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence and giving false information) of Indian Penal Code and Sections 7, 8, 9 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Statements of 42 witnesses, including those whose deposition was recorded before the judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the code of criminal procedure, have been included in the charge sheet.
The voluminous document, that names former chief minister Digambar Kamat as ‘suspect’ has accused the politicians of accepting illegal gratification of Rs 1.95 crore cash from the US-based firm for JICA consultancy work.
As earlier reported by Herald, the investigation agency has highlighted crucial statements disclosing the large bribe paid to the duo in four installments during 2009-11. One of the witnesses – ex-LB official Shiv Ram Prasad Malladi confessed that Alemao had abused him when he found that Rs 40,000 cash from the total Rs 10 lakh bribe amount was less.
In the second instance, another witness Prasanna Shah collected Rs 50-60 lakh from Soni at his shop in Panjim and both had then driven to Alemao’s residence at Varca to pay him the bribe amount.
The chargesheet also mentions that Kamat was upset about the bribe being paid to Alemao alone. Wachasundar thereafter conveyed Kamat’s bribe demand to the company after which two installments were delivered to the former chief minister. Malladi, along with Sanjay Jindal, had paid Rs 50 lakh to Kamat at his Margao apartment after which another installment was delivered at his official residence. Wachasundar was a witness to all this.
Besides Malladi, Jindal and Shah; Wachasundar, Mohanty, JICA surveyor Udaykumar Mandevalkar, Soni and Soni’s employee Mukesh Bharati’s statements were recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. Sources said some witnesses who have delivered the bribe amount to the accused, are not accused in the case because they have acted on behalf of the company.
Meanwhile, Soni has submitted a fresh application in the special court seeking his passport which he deposited while being granted bail. His earlier application requesting permission to travel to Dubai was rejected.
