Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh over a probe into allegations against a US-based firm responsible for water supply projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore in Assam and claimed that the pace of investigations had slowed after the BJP government came to power in the state.
Assam MP Gaurav Gogoi, in his letter to Singh, demanded a speedy probe by the CBI and claimed that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, as BJP's state chief, had levelled allegations against a politician, who later joined the BJP and became a minister.
"The allegations of corruption between the officials of the Guwahati Metropolitan Developmental Authority (GMDA) and Louis Berger (US-based firm) are a matter of concern and demand speedy investigation," Gogoi wrote in his letter.
"The Assam government had initiated an investigation by the CID in 2015. Yet after the new government came to power in 2016, the CID investigation has gone slow and they failed to update the Gauhati High Court on many occasions. The high court finally handed over the investigation to the CBI in 2017 after stating that the CID is acting in a partisan manner," he said.
Gaurav Gogoi told PTI, "There has been remarkable change in the pace of investigation after the new government came into power in Assam. It is getting slow day by day."
He said the investigation in a similar case in Goa has seen considerable progress and there should be no reason for the slow pace of investigation in the Assam case.
Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Himanta Biswa Sarma, then a Congress leader and minister for Guwahati Development Department under which GMDA functions, blame each other for giving the contract to Louis Berger.
Sarma switched over to the BJP in 2015 to eventually become a minister in the Sonowal government.
Gaurav Gogoi claimed that the probe, now under the purview of the CBI, has still not picked up pace.
"The US-based firm had pleaded guilty before a New Jersey court to allegations that it had paid bribes to the governments of Assam and Goa to secure contracts as consultants in water supply projects.
"The fact that Gauhati High Court had to transfer the case from the CID to the CBI in 2017 is all the more alarming. This is against the 'Na Khaoonga, Na Khaane Doonga' slogan of the Government of India. I urge to enquire into this case and seek a status update," he wrote in the letter to Singh.
The case dates back to July 2015 when the US department of justice under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey-based Louis Berger. The case involved water management projects in Assam and Goa.
Soon after the US lawsuit, a man named Bhaben Handique filed a police case in Guwahati alleging Louis Berger had paid Rs 6 crore to Assam officials and politicians to secure a water supply project in Assam worth Rs 1,452 crore.
The GMDA had awarded Louis Berger a contract in 2010 to manage three water supply projects. These projects, are funded by Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The case was handed over to the CID, but Handique went to the high court seeking a CBI probe as he felt the state agency was trying to shield influential people involved. The court later ordered a CBI investigation.
A 40-page FIR was filed by the CBI in New Delhi on October 4, 2017, against unnamed officials of GMDA and Louis Berger.
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