Louis Berger case: ED seizes docs of assets worth Rs 100 cr from ex-Goa CM house, offices

Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate, probing the charge of money laundering in the Louis Berger bribery case, has seized documents of properties worth over Rs 100 crore from the residence and offices of former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat and his close aides, an official said on Friday. The agency on Friday seized foreign currencies equivalent to Rs 8.43 lakh from two bank lockers of Pinky (Gaurish) Lawande, brother-in-law of Kamat. “Documents of properties worth over Rs 100 crore were seized by ED yesterday from the residence and offices of Kamat and his close aides. Today, ED searched two lockers (of Lawande) and seized foreign currency equivalent to Rs 8.43 lakh from Panaji branches of State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank,” a senior ED official told PTI without elaborating. [caption id=“attachment_2398446” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat. Image credit: PIB[/caption] He said Lawande is likely to be booked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) Act. Lawande was on Thursday hauled up in his office in Panaji for questioning by the ED sleuths when the agency and the Crime Branch conducted joint raids at the residence and office of Kamat in Margao and at other places in connection with the bribery scandal. The house owned by Lawande in Panaji’s plush Miramar locality was also searched on Thursday before he was questioned, the ED official said. The investigators are looking for a crucial file which has been missing. The file has notings which were used to award the consultancy to Louis Berger for a project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The ED had earlier this month lodged an FIR relating to money laundering in the Louis Berger case to probe charges of bribing Indian officials to allegedly win a major water development project in Goa. The Crime Branch on Thursday appealed before the Goa bench of Bombay High Court against the anticipatory bail granted to Kamat by the district court. The police recently slapped an additional charge of ‘causing disappearance of evidence’ against Kamat under Section 201 of IPC. Earlier, he was charged under IPC section 120-B (conspiracy) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Kamat was Goa Chief Minister when the alleged bribe was given in 2010. Police have so far arrested Churchill Alemao, former vice president of Louis Berger Satyakam Mohanty, head of JICA-aided project in Goa Anand Wachasunder and alleged hawala dealer Raychand Soni in the case. PTI