The Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has instituted a one-man commission to look into the allegations of an American company bribing some Ministers and officials in Assam to get a water supply project.
“Additional Chief Secretary Subhash Das will look into the allegations. If there is any prima facie evidence of any wrongdoing during the inquiry, we are going to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a detailed probe,” said Gogoi on Monday.
Gogoi had on Sunday called for all the papers regarding the appointment of the New Jersey based construction firm louis Berger International Inc as a consultant in one of the major drinking water supply project for the Guwahati city.
The name of former Assam Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma got entangled in the scam after a US court charged the louis Berger and some of its associates for bribing some officials and Ministers to the tune of several crores to get projects in Goa and in Assam.
It may be mentioned here that the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) had signed an agreement in 2010 with the louis Berger, Japanese firm Nihon Psuido and Shah Technical Consultants for implementing one of the major drinking water supply project in Guwahati. The GMDA is under Guwahati Development Department (GDD), a portfolio handled by Himanta Biswa Sarma then.
“We all know who the GDD Minister was during that period. There must be a proper inquiry to get to the facts,” said Assam based activist and farmers’ leader Akhil Gogoi. He demanded a fair probe to unearth the facts behind the agreement.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, denied his involvement in the scam and said that the US justice department has said about Indian officials and an Indian Minister, who were bribed but no names were given.