PANJIM: Adding to his woes in the JICA bribe probe, sacked JICA project director Anand Wachasundar is being accused of being a beneficiary of bribes even as he played the role of a mediator between Louis Berger International and two ex-Congress ministers, apparently Digambar Kamat and Churchill Alemao.
Crime Branch (CB), in its submission before Principal Sessions Judge B P Deshpande, quoted former Louis Berger employees Sanjay Jindal and Shiv Ram Prasad on this disclosure.
“He has not only witnessed the bribe being paid to the two ex-ministers but also received (the bribe). It (money) was paid (apparently to Kamat and Alemao) at his instance. He was in the know of the bribery, received his share and ensured the company pays,” public prosecutor Prasad Kirtani told the court while opposing the Wachasundar’s bail plea.
While serving as JICA project director from 2015 till his termination this week, Kirtani said that all files pertaining to the project were solely under him; however some files that contained former ministers’ notings have been misplaced. “We need to trace the important files. These have been intentionally concealed to ensure it not progress the investigation,” he stated.
CB raided the JICA office thrice since the registration of the case last week, and seized nearly 35 files, all of which are presently being examined.
“Wachasundar had active involvement right from the beginning… the witnesses have given a sequence showing his involvement… all the deals were struck in his presence and he was well aware of the transactions too,” Kirtani reiterated calling him the captain on the field.
In order to thoroughly probe the bribe trail, CB has sent a letter rotagory to the concerned agency seeking documents from the US government pertaining to the case. FBI special agents had filed a complaint with the local police on bribe allegation made by the two ex-Louis Berger officials.
The prosecution conceded that the former principal chief engineer of PWD refused to cooperate with the investigation at the initial stage. Nonetheless, the investigation sleuths tracked down mails, phone call details and other related evidence to nail the accused persons
