Calling the Louis Berger bribery case as “Tip of Iceberg” former Goa CM and Defence Minister of India assured that he will expose more such scams of congress in Goa and he also made sure that the centre will extend all possible help to expose “scams” during the congress regime in Goa. “This scam (Louis Berger scam) is just the tip of the iceberg. It is time to bring out all the Congress scams in the open,” said the former CM while addressing the party workers on Saturday in capital city of Goa.
Louis Berger Bribery Case which is haunting Goa’s political circle has already revealed the names of two former congress ministers in this issue and they have been already quizzed by the crime branch but nothing has been surfaced as yet in this case as the ministers have denied their involvement into this matter. They have also blamed the ruling government for staging the revenge on them. Nevertheless here the game is same but the players have changed.
Parrikar further said that while law enforcement agencies doing their work, the party need to maintain the pressure on the former Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, who was the head of Congress-led government when the alleged bribery scam took place in 2009. “They will be exposed. I guarantee that I will offer whatever helps is needed from the Centre, right from the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and CBI to expose them,” he said. The Defence Minister also pointed out that the Louis Berger officials have already confessed in front of US District Court that they had paid the bribes to the then Goa Ministers. “Now there are only two (former) ministers in the zone of consideration. No other ministers are related to this. PWD (minister) is natural, but along with PWD minister there is also Finance (minister) who has to release the money. If he does not release the money, this cannot happen,” Parrikar said.
Attacking on Kamat, Parrikar told his party workers to put him (Kamat) in a corner and ensure that he is made to suffocate over the scam. During the meeting in Panaji on Saturday the BJP also decided to investigate all the misdeeds of the former congress-led government.
Louis Berger has been charged with bribing Indian officials with several crores of rupees to win two major water development projects in Goa and Guwahati. The alleged bribery of USD 976,630 for a Goa project included kickbacks to a minister, the details of which have not been disclosed by the US Department of Justice. All the tenders for the JAICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) project, of which Louis Berger was the consultant, were issued as per Central Public Works Department prescribed norms.
On the one side BJP government in Goa is preparing itself to win the 2017 elections and on other side working hard on putting the culprits of the former government behind the bars. Apparently people are not happy with functioning of the present government but nobody seems to be bothered about this. Don’t you think that if more efforts are put on the development rather than fighting with each other will make Goa a better place to live? Please do leave your valuable comments and suggestions on this issue.
Source: PTI
