MUMBAI: The Crime Branch on Monday arrested Satyakam Mohanty,former India vice-president of the US infrastructure giant,Louis Berger, in connection with the `6.1 crore pay-off scandal.
And the arrest of Mohanty--a resident of Gurgaon--followed his questioning on Sunday during which he provided several valuable leads to the investigators.
Superintendent of Police Kartik Kashyap confirmed Mohanty’s arrest. Several Sections of Prevention of Corruption Act have been slapped on him.
This is the second arrest in this case after Anand Wachasundar, a senior official who headed the controversial water development project, was arrested last week. He had been remanded in police custody for a week.
A police officer said that they have launched an extensive investigation in three states-- Goa, Assam and Maharashtra--in order to corroborate Louis Berger’s charge that kickbacks were paid to a minister to win consultancy contract for water augmentation and sewerage pipeline project under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Goa in 2010.
Following his arrest, Wachasunder, who headed the JICA project, had also provided vital clues regarding the case.
The police have questioned former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, during whose tenure the contract was awarded, and the then state PWD minister Churchill Alemao in the case. Both of them had denied knowledge of the pay-offs.
Interestingly, the US Department of Justic(DoJ) has not disclosed name of the minister who was allegedly paid the bribe.