Louis Berger case: Ex-Goa CM granted interim bail

Former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat, who is accused of accepting bribes from Louis Berger officials to implement a Rs.1,031 crore-worth project, was on Wednesday granted interim bail until August 7.

Kamat on Wednesday approached a court here seeking anticipatory bail. The development came as media reports suggested that Anand Wachsundar, director of the compromised project for which a bribe of $976,630 was paid by Louis Berger officials in 2010, could be made a government approver in the case.

Louis Berger was part of a consortium that eventually won a contract to execute a multi-billion dollar water and sewerage project funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency. Two people, including the director of the JICA-funded project Wachasundar and former India head of Louis Berger Satyakam Mohanty, have already been arrested.

Congress legislator Kamat and then public works department minister Churchill Alemao, who served in Kamat cabinet at the time, have been questioned on more than one occasion.