GUWAHATI, Sept 29 - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today questioned several officials of the Guwahati Development Metropolitan Authority (GMDA) along with its former Chief Executive Officer Preetom Saikia in connection with the multi-crore rupee Louis Berger scam.
A CBI team also visited the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and discussed some issues related to the Louis Berger case. The ED office at Guwahati had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act taking cognizance of a police complaint.
Saikia, who is now the Commissioner and Secretary, Department of Elementary Education, was summoned to the GMDA office located at Bhangagarh, where he was questioned by the investigators for several hours.
The IAS officer was the CEO of the GMDA when the Louis Berger scam took place.
�Former Deputy Secretary of the Finance department Pomi Baruah and former GMDA officer CK Bhuyan have already been questioned and there are chances that they could be summoned again,� sources pointed out.
Sources said that Saikia was also questioned about the files related to the water supply project, which had gone missing from the GMDA office under mysterious circumstances.
The CBI team, which is camping here for the last few days, according to sources, is expected to grill more officials in the next couple of days.
The CBI began its investigation following directions from the Gauhati High Court in 2017. The scam came to the fore after
officials of the New Jersey-based Louis Berger admitted in a US court that they had bribed several persons to win government projects, including the water supply projects in Goa and Assam.
Meanwhile, a statement issued to media by the Louis Berger stated: "As we did with the US investigation, we intend to continue to cooperate to the fullest extent with Indian authorities on this matter.�
