PANJIM: Just a day after assuring the state legislative assembly that the government will request the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the Louis Berger bribery case, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar made a huge U-turn on Tuesday stating that the “government might rethink its decision as Crime Branch is doing a fair job.”
“Crime Branch was asked to conduct a preliminary investigation into the Louis Berger case so that we can hand over the probe to CBI. But we have found that CB officials are doing a tremendously good job. They visited three states and even got statements from officials and former ministers related to the case,” Parsekar told media persons.
The chief minister said that the investigations are heading in the right directions with CB doing a very good job and that the state might not even refer the case to CBI.
“The investigations are heading in the right direction. I have given them a free hand. I am happy with the investigation. If CB can go to the depth of this case, then we might not even need CBI to probe. It is proved that money has exchanged hands,” he said.
The chief minister said all the guilty in this case would be punished. “Police are doing a good job. It is not fair to comment on the investigations now,” he said. Parsekar was commenting on summons issued to former Chief Minister Digamber Kamat and former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao in the case.
The BJP legislators on Monday had held an hour-long special discussion on the scam in the assembly and the chief Minister had assured to hand over the case to CBI. He had said that the investigation will have no impact on the ongoing JICA projects and Mopa airport, whose consultancy was awarded to Louis Berger.
