The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday rejected an appeal filed by former Goa PWD Minister Churchill Alemao challenging the rejection of his bail application by lower court in the Louis Berger bribery case.
Alemao, who also happens to be a former Chief Minister, was arrested by the Crime Branch of the State police probing the case on August 5 and has been in the judicial custody after the initial seven days in police custody.
His application for bail was twice rejected by a Special Court under the Prevention of corruption Act earlier. Alemao had then challenged the orders before Bombay High Court at Goa pleading for parity as an anticipatory bail application of former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat who has also been charged by the Crime Branch in this case as a co-cospirator had been granted on technical grounds.
Alemao’s case took a serious twist after the Crime Branch last week raided the office of his tax consultant and seized property documents worth around Rs. 100 crore. Alemao is currently at Colvale judicial custody in north Goa.
Both the politicians are charged of accepting huge amount of bribes from Louis Berger International Inc., the U.S.-based consultancy firm. Louis Berger officials had admitted before the Department of Justice in New Jersey of paying bribes to ‘a’ minister and government officials in Goa for the project.
The Goa government asked its Crime Branch to probe the bribery case which pertained to erstwhile Congress regime recently after the U.S. firm admitted before the Department of Justice in New Jersey of paying total bribe of Rs.6 crore to a Minister and government officials of Goa for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)–funded project worth Rs.1031 crore in 2010.
Mr. Kamat had been granted anticipatory bail by the Special Court on technical grounds, which has been challenged by Crime Branch in High Court.
The hearing of the case is on in the High Court.
