Guwahati: Assam activist Bhaben Handique has raised questions before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the inordinate delay in completing the probe into the Louis Berger bribery scam.
The CBI, which started an investigation into the Rs 6.5 crore Louis Berger bribery scam in 2018, on the directive of the Gauhati High Court, has failed to make any headway since then.
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“In September, 2018, a CBI team quizzed some officials of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) in connection with the case. However, since then, we have not seen any progress in the investigation into the case,” activist Bhaben Handique told Northeast Now.
Handique said that in 2018, he had written to the CBI seeking the status of the investigation into the case, but the investigation agency refused to provide information citing ‘security concerns’.
“The investigation has hit roadblocks because some high-profile people are involved in the scam. Perhaps, the central agency has stopped the probe midway as certain quarters have pressurized the CBI to not proceed with the inquiry,” Handique said.
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The CBI took over the probe into the Louis Berger bribery scam in Assam after Gauhati High Court’s order on September 2 in 2017.
The Gauhati High Court directed the CBI to take over the case, saying the Assam police’s investigation was not satisfactory.
“The Gauhati high court had handed over the case to the CBI after observing that the CID in its investigation was moving in a “partisan manner. The irony is that, the case met the same fate even after CBI took over the investigation,” Handique added.
The case came to light in July 2015 when the US department of justice under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey-based Louis Berger. The case involved water management projects in Assam and Goa.
Executives of the firm told a US court then that they and their consortium partners had – between 1998 and 2010 – paid bribes worth $976,6630 to unnamed “officials” in the Assam and Goa governments to corner water management consultancy projects.
Soon after the US lawsuit, activist Bhaben Handique filed a case at Dispur police station in Guwahati alleging Louis Berger had paid Rs 6 crore to Assam officials and politicians to get a water supply project in Guwahati worth Rs 1,452 crore.
The case was handed over to CID, but Handique moved to Gauhati high court seeking a CBI probe stating that the state agency was trying to protect influential people involved.
While the investigation in the case progressed considerably in Goa, the CID probe in Assam was slow and shoddy.
Handique had demanded that Himanta Biswa Sarma, who held the charge of the Guwahati Development Department when the scam took place, be brought under the ambit of the CBI investigation into the case.
Sarma, however, had denied any role in the scam and maintained there was no mention about the involvement of any minister from Assam in the bribery case in the chargesheet filed in a US court.
Despite repeated attempts, CBI officials are not available for comments.