My ministers not involved: Ex-Goa CM Digambar Kamat on US firm bribery scandal

Panaji: BJP on Monday turned the heat on Congress over allegations of payment of bribes by a US firm to win contracts in Goa and Assam while in power and pushed for a CBI probe even as it sought to drag the latter’s top brass into the case. [caption id=“attachment_2353036” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.[/caption] On his part, former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who headed the Congress government during the alleged bribery in 2009 involving New Jersey-based construction management firm Louis Berger to secure a contract for a water developmental scheme, denied involvement by any of his ministers in giving clearance and asserted he was ready for any probe. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is in office since 2001, ordered an inquiry into the allegations of bribery for winning the contract for Guwahati Water Supply Project. Louis Berger has been charged with bribing Indian officials with several crores to win two major water developmental projects in Goa and Guwahati. The alleged bribery of USD 976,630 for a Goa project included that to a minister, the details of which have not been disclosed by the US Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors, in their 11-page chargesheet, alleged that Louis Berger maintained a detailed diary and account of bribery made to Indian officials. “A party delegation will soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Rajnath Singh demanding an inquiry through CBI into the bribery scam. The guilty should be punished,” BJP’s Goa unit president Vinay Tendulkar said in Panaji. The entire dealing of JAICA ((Japan International Cooperation Agency) project should be probed by CBI and if more people are involved, they should also be arrested, Tendulkar said. “The truth should be revealed. It is clear before the US court that the bribe was paid, we should know who accepted the money,” he said. With the BJP top brass deciding to aggressively counter Congress in Parliament whose Monsoon session is starting on Tuesday, the party spokesperson MJ Akbar alleged involvement of its ruling family in the bribery case. “Since this is Congress, we would like to know how much of this loot was shared upwards to the ruling family in Delhi,” he said at a media briefing in Delhi where he read from the US probe document which, he said, made it a “proven” case of bribery. Union Defence Minister and former Goa Chief Manohar Parrikar yesterday hinted at the involvement of Goa’s two ex-ministers in the alleged bribery case and sought a CBI probe. He, however, did not name anyone. “All the tenders for the JAICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) project were issued as per central public works department norms. There is no intervention of any minister in it,” Kamat told PTI in Panaji. He said the role of any state department comes to the fore only while deciding estimates for the tender. “Once estimates are drawn there is no possibility of any minister interfering in it,” he said, adding, “Anyone can allege that he paid money to the minister but there should be proper base to support it,” he said. Parrikar said yesterday that as the work related to Japan International funding project, the then PWD minister might be involved and considering the financial approval for the project there was likelihood of one more minister’s involvement. Parrikar’s successor and Chief Minister Parsekar said that when the contracts were awarded, Congress leader Digambar Kamat was the chief minister and Churchill Alemao in charge of the Public Works Department. Alemao said he is not aware of any payment of bribes. In Guwahati, Gogoi directed Additional Chief Secretary Subash Das to probe into the allegations and submit the report soon and said if any prima facie evidence of bribe being given is found, the state government will refer the case to CBI. BJP spokesperson Bijon Mahajan said that those who received bribes must be brought to book and demanded a CBI probe. PTI