Louis Berger case: Digambar Kamat was named as the prime conspirator in the corruption scandal.
Assets worth nearly Rs 2 crore belonging to former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and former Public Works Department or PWD minister Churchill Alemao have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate in a bribery case involving US firm Louis Berger. After questioning the two over the source of money for the properties owned by them in South Goa, the agency was apparently unsatisfied with the replies given by them, prompting them to attach the properties, sources said.
Louis Berger has been charged with bribing Indian officials to win water developmental projects. Mr Kamat was named as the prime conspirator in the case in a 1,000-page chargesheet filed by the police last year that also named Mr Alemao.
The attached properties include a plot of land worth Rs 1.20 crore belonging to Mr Kamat, located at Gogal, a residential building at Taligao and fixed deposits worth Rs 41.35 lakhs owned by him. The attached properties worth Rs 75 Lakh of Mr Alemao includes eight apartments at Fatrade of Varca Village
In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate has said that it has investigated the financial trail of the proceeds of crime obtained by the accused people in the Louis Berger bribery case, questioning officials of various firms involved.
The alleged bribery case had come to light after Louis Berger admitted to the violations under US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to pay penalty of $17.1 million to resolve the charge that it had bribed foreign officials.
The Rs 1,031-crore project, funded by JICA or the Japan International Cooperation Agency, was approved when the Digamber Kamat government was in power for augmenting water supply in south Goa and laying sewerage lines in the state's major cities.
Louis Berger was part of a consultancy consortium appointed by two Japanese firms and an Indian partner for managing $311 million Goa Water Supply and Sewerage Project awarded in 2009.