PANJIM: In what could be a major blow to former chief minister Digambar Kamat and former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao, ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, Goa Police’s Crime Branch has completed investigations in the Louis Berger bribery case, which indicts the former ministers.
Kamat and Alemao are accused of accepting bribes to issue works for the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) funded water development project in Goa.
Sources in the Crime Branch revealed that the investigation has been completed and the charge sheet will probably be submitted in the special court on Tuesday.
Even though the police have failed to get custody of Kamat, with the State’s petition challenging his bail still pending in the Supreme Court, Crime Branch has been able to establish the money trail, which was allegedly received by the then ministers.
Nine crucial statements recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC have confirmed that the bribe money was paid to the ministers. The nine witnesses include Anand Wachasundar, former project director of JICA Projects in Goa, who admitted giving bribe money.
According to the Crime Branch investigations, Louis Berger sublet the work to Holistic Urban Innovation, a New Delhi firm to the tune of Rs 4.30 crore, who in turn sublet the work to another West Bengal based Gagandeep Trade Link to the tune of Rs 2.30 crore.
However, the remaining Rs 2 crore from the sanctioned amount allegedly came to Sanjay Jindal an officer of LB, who finally had sent approximately Rs 1.95 crore to Raichand Soni, a hawala agent based in Goa.
Jindal and Ramprasad Malari, both LB officers, collected the money in Goa and allegedly handed it over to then Chief Minister Kamat and PWD Minister Alemao, sources reveal.
It is also revealed during the course of investigation that Rs 1.20 crore was allegedly paid to Kamat and Rs 75 lakh was allegedly paid to Alemao.
The nine statements include those made by Jindal, Malari, Prassana Shah, Mukesh Bharti (the LB officials), Soni and Wachasundar.
A Crime Branch officer said that the audit report of March 2013 has also been attached to the investigation to substantiate the charges of bribe. He said that CAG had also pointed out to the loss of Rs 1.66 crore to the State exchequer because of delay in tendering the work. The officer said that the assets of both ministers are being evaluated by Crime Branch.
US-based Louis Berger has been fined by a New Jersey court for bribing Indian officials and a minister to win consultancy for projects in Goa and Guwahati under the Japanese funding initiative.
Based on the starling submission and reports on the web, Crime Branch had registered an offence under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against an unknown former Goa minister and Louis Berger officials.
Alemao and Wachasundar were two of the person arrested during the course of investigations.
