Goa ex-CM Digambar quizzed by police in bribery case
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 29 July 2015 17:18 IST
Former Congress chief minister Digambar Kamat finally appeared before the crime branch of Goa police in connection with the charges of accepting bribe he is facing in the Louis Berger bribe case.
While he was told to report at 3 pm, Kamat reached the crime branch office at around 4.15 pm.
He was earlier summoned to appear yesterday at 4 pm, but the investigating authorities later told him to come the next day.
The police have been interrogating former PWD minister Churchill Alemao since yesterday morning.
He was also quizzed the whole morning today.
Both Kamat and Churchil have flatly denied the charges of accepting any bribe from Louis Berger International Inc.
The issue rocked the whole country with the US-based Louis Berger officials admitting before the Department of Justice in USA that they paid bribes to a minister and government officials in Goa to get consultancy contract of JICA project of water and sewerage development.
The crime branch, who registered a case against unknown minister on 21 July, managed to get two former officials of Louis Berger case to depose before the magistrate, substantiating the charge.
They have named both Kamat and Churchill, accepting a bribe of Rs 4 crore.
While Churchill denies the charge of accepting the bribe, Kamat has claimed that neither the file ever came to him nor he has signed and approved any JICA matter during his tenure as the chief minister.
Meanwhile, the hearing of anticipatory bail application by suspended JICA project director A M Wachasundar has been now adjourned to 31 July.
He has been arrested and taken into police custody till 1 August.
After raiding the JICA office, the police yesterday also searched his residential bungalow and seized more documents.
