MAPUSA: Special Sessions Court, Mapusa on Thursday ordered that charges be framed against former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and the then PWD Minister Churchill Alemao in connection with money laundering in the Louis Berger bribery case.
Responding to the complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Judge Sherin Paul directed the former ministers to remain present in the court on July 26.
It may be recalled that the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2015, based on an FIR filed by the Goa Police. The ED had filed a charge sheet in this connection before Special Court in 2019. Adv Siddharth Samant is a Special Public Prosecutor in the case.
It was alleged that the US-based firm had bribed Indian officials to the tune of several crores of rupees to win two major water developmental projects in Goa and Guwahati. Kamat and Alemao were accused of receiving bribes to the tune of $976,000 to grant contracts for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project in Goa.
Funded by JICA, the Rs 1,031-crore project was approved when the Kamat-led government was in power, which included augmentation of water supply in South Goa and laying sewerage lines in the major cities. JICA had bagged the consultancy for the project.
The Goa Police had arrested Alemao, JICA Project Director Anand Wachasunder and Louis Berger vice president Satyakam Mohanty in the case.
On August 7, 2015, the ED had started proceedings under PMLA and had attached properties and fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) of Kamats and Alemaos amounting to Rs 1.19 crore and Rs 75 lakh respectively.
