Louis Berger paid close to $1 million to a minister, disguising them as 'commitment fee', 'counterpart per diem', 'marketing fee' and 'field operations expenses', US authorities have said.
The Project Director of the Goa Water and Sewerage Project has been arrested by the Goa Police after allegations of bribery came to light following US firm Louis Berger's disclosures in a US court.
Goa Police sources told NDTV, Anand Wachasundar, who has headed the project under the previous and current regime, prima facie had knowledge of the bribes being paid and custodial interrogation will reveal further details.
The Goa Police Crime Branch on July 21 had filed a First Information Report or FIR against "unknown" people in the Louis Berger bribery case, in which a Goa minister and officials were named.
The New Jersey-based firm had admitted bribing Indian officials several crores of rupees to win two major water developmental projects in Goa and in Guwahati.
With Louis Berger admitting that bribes were paid to a Goa minister and officials in 2010, the big question is who is that minister? The minister has still not been named. The Goa Police Crime Branch is investigating the case.
It was the Public Works Department in the state that awarded the contract for a water and sewerage project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to a consortium which Louis Berger was a part of. Louis Berger in a statement had said, "The company self-investigated and self-reported inappropriate business activities to the US government as we uncovered them. We separated Richard Hirsch and James McClung, the managers engaged in inappropriate conduct, from the company in the first half of 2012 after evidence of improprieties came to light."
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had pointed fingers towards the then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and then PWD Minister Churchill Alemao. Speaking to NDTV he had said, "Digambar Kamat was Chief Minister and held finance portfolio. Churchill Alemao was PWD Minister then. These two have to find out who accepted the bribe."
Digambar Kamat hit back saying, "Nobody has said anything in detail. Anybody can say anything. It has to be verified first. I am not a person who will make irresponsible statements. My job is not to award consultancy contracts. I am a minister. That is the job of technical persons," Mr Alemao had told NDTV.