Goa Lokayukta examining possibility of suo motu disproportionate assets complaint against CM

Pramod Sawant was the Chairman of the State-owned Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) earlier, and the complaint alleged that he had acquired assets disproportionate to his income.

Goa Chief Ministetr Pramod Sawant.

Goa Lokayukta Justice (retd.) P.K.Misra is examining if the documents submitted by activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues pertaining to the alleged disproportionate assets accumulated by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant could be taken as a suo motu complaint, sources in the Lokayukta Secretariat confirmed to The Hindu on Wednesday.

Mr. Rodrigues on Monday had placed before the Lokayukta a copy of the documents obtained by him from the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act pertaining to the February 20, 2017 complaint filed by Sudip Tamhankar, a local RTI activist against then MLA Pramod Sawant.

Mr. Sawant was the Chairman of the State-owned Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), and the complaint alleged that he had acquired disproportionate assets, accusing him of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

Sources in the Lokayukta Secretariat on the condition of anonymity said that the complaint by Mr. Rodrigues is not in the appropriate form but just forwarded all the documents obtained by Mr. Tamhankar through RTI. As the said document cannot be taken as a complaint, the Lokayukta is examining the documents to see if it could be taken up as a

suo motu case.

Mr. Rodrigues, in his letter, drew the attention of the Lokayukta that a mere perusal of the noting sheets processing the complaint against Mr. Sawant demonstrates that the ACB — which has been hounding Opposition politicians — had on directions of the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar shielded Mr. Sawant from a probe.

Former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on 16th June 2018, while he was ailing, gave his consent to close the complaint without conducting a probe.

In that documented complaint, Mr. Sawant was accused of buying properties in the name of a partnership firm M/s Jay Ganesh Developers and Associates set up by him in 2014 as a front with Ranjit Rohidas Mangaonkar, Rupesh Narayan Thanekar, and Rajesh Manohar Shirodkar as the other three partners.

In the complaint, the ACB was given details of 24 sale deeds executed within a span two years by Pramod Sawant’s partnership firm at the office of the Sub-Registrar in Bicholim in North Goa.

Amongst the properties purchased by Pramod Sawant’s partnership firm was land measuring 16,480 sq.m. in Bordem at Bicholim for ₹1.31 crore and another 19,989 sq.m. also at Bordem for an amount of ₹1.23 crore.