Goa minister Monserrate got Rs 26.5 crore payoffs for land conversion

Investigations into tax evasion by a former government official has unravelled that a minister in the Cabinet of Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat received huge payoffs from a complex nexus of land sharks who set up a web of fictitious transactions to give their kickbacks.

According to an Income Tax assessment order and notice served on former Goa civil service official N Suryanarayana last month by I-T Deputy Commissioner V S Chakrapani, Babush Monserrate, who also goes by the first name of Atanasio, received over Rs 26.58 crore in cash and kind to convert huge tracts of orchard and agricultural lands into settlement zones in early 2006 when he was Town and Country Planning Minister in the BJP government. Monserrate now holds the portfolio of technical education, education, archives and archaeology in the Congress government.

The astonishing document put together after raids on Suryanarayana, his associates and two prominent builders in Goa provides details, bank proof and comments on the trail of the slush payments. It leaves little room for doubt about how Goa is being quartered and sold to real estate syndicates from outside the state by local land sharks.  Suryanarayana was asked to pay a tax of Rs 10 crore.

A document seized by I-T officials from Suryanarana’s residence in Caranzalem reveals it all. It says that in January 2006, Suryanarayana and friends formed “a syndicate” to deal in properties within and outside Goa.

“At the same time in Goa the then minister of town & country Planning has announced Regional Plan 2011 through which it was open to seek conversions (settlement zone) for the agricultural lands,” the document goes on. After picking up 60 acres of orchard land in Old Goa in March 2006 through Pradeep Palekar, Managing Director of Primeslots Properties, Suryananaya and company approached Sadiq Shaik of Essar Builders, known for his direct links with Monserrate.

“These two people in the course of discussions have further promised to convert all our other lands also into settlement zone in the same Regional Plan 2011. Sadiq at this stage made us speak to Babush Monserrate (on phone), the Town & Country Planning Minister, to reassure their involvement in the whole episode.”  

Suryanarayana, who was known to be close to Monserrate while he served in the government till 2005 when he resigned for the more lucrative business of real estate brokering, details in the note how an amount of Rs 24.75 crore was paid to convert 11 huge properties across Goa (they were spread across Old Goa, Verna, Siridao, Porvorim, Galgibag, Quelossim, Cavelossim, Varca, Majorda, Dona Paula and Pilerne). “Out of the above amount of Rs 24.75 crore an amount of Rs 19.75 crore was paid during the period of April 2006 to August 2006 to Sadiq Shaik at his residence in Dona Paula and in the office of Dinar Tarcar (chairman of Landscape Group) at Campal, Panaji”,  the seized document says. Suryanarayana’s buyers also routed Rs 4.99 crore through his wife N Sunitha’s Andhra Bank account.

The I-T order tracks the money trail to Monserrate made through a convoluted process by Shaikh who set up a fictitious company using his restaurateur brother Shiraz Shaikh and a friend.

Sadiq Shaikh conveyed Rs 26,58,16,250 “in kind and in cash to Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate indirectly,” the order says.

Shaikh transferred land at Sancoale worth Rs 11.58 crore to Monserrate’s son’s company Good Earth Developers and provided an advance of Rs 15 crore to Raj Hospitality Pvt Ltd in which Monserrate, his wife Jennifer and son are directors.

Monserrate, who was forced to resign from the ministry in January 2007 following huge protests against the Regional Plan 2011, did not deliver on the land conversion promises and Suryanarayana and his syndicate are still trying to recover the money through Shaikh.

Suryanarayana’s lawyers have in fact gone to court to recover the Rs 4.99 crore paid by cheque.  In April last year Monserrate was detained by the Mumbai Customs for trying to
take a huge amount of foreign currency out of the country.

Both he and his wife Jennifer are front-runners for Congress tickets for the March 3 election. Tarcar, who has also been in the news for illegal mining has his name linked to the BJP in this election.

Suryanarayana who had a controversial track record in the Goa government has been asked to pay Rs 10.57 crore in tax for the year 2007-08. A hearing on the matter scheduled for January 17 did not take place, but Dy Commissioner Chakarpani refused to comment on the case.

Government sources said with the candidates’ selection jamboree on, an AICC observer from Andhra Pradesh has asked Monserrate to cough up Suryanarayana’s tax dues