A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team was expected to reach Assam this week to dig deeper into the ₹6.5 crore Louis Berger bribery scam.
This would be the investigating agency’s second visit to the State after the Gauhati High Court had in September 2017 ordered it to take up the corruption case on the basis of a public interest litigation filed by Bhaben Handique, an RTI activist and convener of rights group Swaraj Asom.
In July 2015, officials of the New Jersey-based Louis Berger admitted in a U.S. court that they had bribed top officials in several countries to win government projects. These included water development projects in Goa and Assam, then ruled by the Congress.
The CBI had taken up the case by filing a 40-page FIR against unknown officials in the alleged scam, and a team took statements from the petitioners and officials a month later. “A team is likely to arrive in the next few days for the next round of probe,” an officer initially associated with the investigation said.
“Investigation in the case is progressing very slowly. The probe should have been faster since we submitted to the CBI documents we had obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI,” Mr. Handique said.
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority had in 2010 awarded a contract to Louis Berger for managing three water supply projects in the city. The projects, funded by Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency, were expected to be commissioned by June 2019.
