Louis Berger bribery case: CBI chargesheet names Alemao as accused

Panaji: Filing the chargesheet in the Louis Berger bribery case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named former Goa PWD minister Churchill Alemao as an accused. Former CM Digambar Kamat has also been named but only as an suspect.

The chargesheet also names former JICA Goa project head Anand Wachasunder as an accused.

The crime branch has been investigating the alleged bribery by the US based Louis Berger company to win consultancy for sewerage pipeline and water augmentation project under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding.

Crime branch has already arrested Alemao, former PWD minister and Wachasunder, who are currently lodged in jail.

A local court had granted anticipatory bail to Kamat, which has been challenged in the High Court.

Ex-Louis Berger officials Sanjay Jindal and Shiv Ram Prasad Malladi, MD of Shah Consultancy Prasanna Shah, Mukesh Bharati, JICA PIO Udaykumar Mandevalkar, and accused - former JICA project director Anand Wachasunder, former Vice President of LB India Satyakam Mohanty, and alleged hawala operator Raichand Soni are among those whose statements were recorded under CrPC section 164.

Officials of the New Jersey-based Louis Berger, in a submission before a US court, had admitted paying bribe to an Indian 'minister' to win consultancy for the line laying project in Goa and Guwahati.

The Rs 1,031-crore project was approved when the Kamat government was in power, for augmenting water supply in south Goa and laying sewerage lines in the state's major cities.