PANJIM: Former chief minister Digambar Kamat, former PWD minister Churchill Alemao and six others have been named by Crime Branch in the charge sheet submitted to the Special Court North Goa, in the Louis Berger bribery case.
All the accused, including Louis Berger Company, its official James McClung, former India Vice President of the company Satyakam Mohanty, head of JICA-aided projects in Goa Anand M Wachasunder, Hawala dealer Raychand Soni and former Margao Municipal Council chairperson Arthur D’Silva, Kamat and Alemao have been charged under sections 201 of the IPC (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and sections 7,8 and 13 (i)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Crime Branch, which had earlier filed the FIR against unknown ministers on July 21, 2015 has mentioned Kamat as a prime conspirator of the scam that came to light when Louis Berger admitted to violations of US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to pay a penalty of $17.1 million to resolve the charge that it had bribed foreign officials.
“Kamat was instrumental in aiding the then PWD minister Churchill Alemao in formation of different committees by approving the same for JICA project contrary to JICA guidelines,” the charge sheet states.
“Prime conspirator Digambar Kamat is also the criminal conspirator in concealing the main noting file of awarding JICA consultancy in Goa in connivance with other co-accused Alemao in order to hide the noting in the main file which would put light on the misdeeds of accused Wachasunder,” the charge sheet further stated.
Crime Branch, during its investigation interrogated Kamat on several occasions but the former CM had managed to get anticipatory bail from local court on August 19, 2015, while Alemao was arrested on August 5, 2015 and spent almost a month in jail. Kamat’s anticipatory bail has been challenged by Crime Branch in the Supreme Court.
Kamat was named as a suspect in the interim charge sheet filed on September 29, 2015, however he has now been made a prime conspirator in the bribery case.
Crime Branch, in the charge sheet, has said they have collected documents of immense wealth running into crores of rupees during the course of the investigation and different bank accounts accumulated by him all over India in his name as well as his proxy.
“Upon the scrutiny of all the documents of the properties and bank accounts in different banks all over India, corroborative evidence will be submitted before the court as per provisions of CrPC,” the charge sheet states.
Crime Branch also found that Kamat formed seven companies in which his close relatives were made proxy members. The investigation reveals that during his stint as CM these companies also bagged government contracts.
However, after the 2012 polls Kamat was made a director in all the companies. Crime Branch suspects the huge wealth accumulated through corruption was diverted to the proxy companies.
The Expert Committee, formed by the Directorate of Vigilance comprising experts from different departments, has directly indicted Kamat in flouting JICA guidelines just to take control of the project.
CAG in its report of 2013 has also pointed out that the project tender was delayed by 16 months causing the project cost to escalate by Rs 69 crore. It also stated that the project was improperly planned and lacked coordination. “Improper planning and lack of coordination resulted in non-completion of work and idle investment of Rs 2.5 crore for the period of three years,” the CAG report, included in the charge sheet, states.
Similarly there are large amounts of property purchased by Alemao in the same years at Verna for which he is not able to give an explanation.
