The ruling BJP in Goa on Monday sought a CBI probe into the bribery case involving a US firm even as former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who headed the Congress government in the state when the alleged pay off was made, denied intervention of any of his ministers in clearing the project in question.
New Jersey-based construction management firm Louis Berger has been accused of bribing Indian officials for two major water development projects in Goa and Guwahati.
“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.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar said on Monday, “We demand a full-scale CBI inquiry into how much more money was paid and to whom.”
“In this case, the finger points directly to Digambar Kamat. We believe that this is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. And since the Congress is involved, we would like to know how much of this (money) was shared with the ruling family of Delhi,” Akbar added.
However, former Chief Minister of Goa Kamat, denied involvement of any of his ministers in clearing the project.
“All the tenders for the JAICA project were issued as per Central Public Works Department norms. There is no intervention of any minister in it,” Kamat insisted. 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.
“Anyone can allege that he paid money to the minister, but there should be proper base to support
it,” he said.
Defence Minister and former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar had on Sunday hinted at the involvement of two former state ministers in the case. He had said as the work related to Japan international funding project, then PWD minister might be involved and considering the financial approval for the project there was likelihood of one more minister’s involvement.
The bribery of $976,630 for the project by Louis Berger included payments to a minister, details of which have not been disclosed by the US Department of Justice.