ED quizzes former Goa CM Digambar Kamat in Louis Berger bribery case

PANAJI: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat, the main accused in the Louis Berger bribery case, was questioned on Thursday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The local ED office is probing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Co-accused in the case former PWD minister Churchill Alemao was quizzed last week.
An ED official who did not wish to be identified told TOI that Kamat was questioned from 10am to 6pm about his various sources of income and properties held by him. About whether Kamat would be questioned again, the officer said the information cannot be revealed at this stage. Both have sought more time to submit documents as documents submitted by them earlier are not adequate, the official said.
It has been a year since ED started its investigation. The officer said it was not possible for him to estimate as to how long it would take for the investigation to be completed. “Whether it would take three months or six months, I can’t say,” he said and added that any financial investigation involves examining a lot of documentary evidence.
Kamat’s house in Margao as well his office, as also those of his close relatives, were searched by ED officials along with the crime branch team that investigated the criminal angle of the case.
A FIR was filed against Kamat, Alemao and several officers of Louis Berger Inc consequent to revelations before US authorities that bribes were paid to some persons in the Goa government in 2010 to get a consultancy contract for a water and sewerage project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).