Goa Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar has said that there is no need to hand over the Louis Berger bribery case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today said that there is no need to hand over the Louis Berger bribery case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the case is being investigated by the crime branch of Goa Police.
The chief minister told reporters, "As our police officials are doing a good job, I do not feel that there is a necessity of giving the Louis Berger case to CBI."
Some executives of Louis Berger have admitted in a US court that they paid nearly USD one million to government officials to be hired as consultants for a water-and-sewage project in Goa; the company is headquartered in New Jersey.
Police officials have already questioned former chief minister and Congress leader, Digambar Kamat, and former Public Works Department minister, Churchill Alemao, in connection with the pay-off scandal.
Yesterday, Mr Kamat had moved a local court for anticipatory bail. When asked by reporters, Mr Parsekar said, "I feel that a person goes for anticipatory bail when he feels afraid of being involved in the case."
The 61-year-old Congress leader was chief minister of the state between 2007 and 2012 when the New Jersey-based consultancy firm allegedly paid the bribes.
Two senior officials - Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) former project director, Anand Wachasunder and Louis Berger's ex-Vice President Satyakam Mohanty, have so far been arrested by the Crime Branch in connection with the case.