Team Herald
PANJIM: Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho on Thursday told the House that he is not involved in the power scam and said he would make a public statement on the subject once the ongoing case in the Court is over.
Godinho also informed the members of the House that of the total five cases slapped against him, he has already been discharged from four cases.
“I would like to clarify today. Every time, I have been tagged after power scam. Then, I was in the Opposition and today I may be part of that party, but I want to tell you today that four cases were thrown out as ‘argument before charges’ and one case is in the final stage,” the Minister said.
“The last case is in its final stage and you will come to know whether I was innocent or not. Once the order is out, I will go public with all the information,” he added.
Godinho claimed that he has not been accused of any corruption, but criminal charges were made against him for not going to the Cabinet. “Do you know what was the allegation against me? That I did not go to the Cabinet. No one accused me of taking money,” he said.
In 1998, former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar exposed the Rs 4.5 crore scam and an FIR was registered in the Crime Branch against Godinho, the then Power Minister in the Congress government .
The special court ordered framing of charges against the accused in 2006. The Minister was accused of causing a loss of Rs 4.5 crore to the government by giving industrial units a 25 per cent rebate on power consumption.
Subsequently in 2007, the High Court held that prima facie, there is material to frame charges of corruption against the accused. In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the HC order to proceed with the trial against the accused. Last year in July, the High Court directed the trial court to expedite the pending case pertaining to the scam.
