GUWAHATI, June 20 - The State�s Criminal Investigation Department sent a Letter Rogatory to the competent authority in United States of America in connection with the Louis Berger bribe case on May 10 last. The CJM Kamrup (Metro) issued the Letter Rogatory in this connection on May 4 last.
This has been disclosed by Dr N Rajamarthandan, SSP, CID, Assam in his affidavit submitted before the Gauhati High Court recently in connection with the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Number 85/2015 filed by Bhaben Handique and others on the allegations of payment of bribe by the Louis Berger Group of Companies to certain Government functionaries to secure consultancy contract for implementation of the Guwahati Water Supply Project.
Based on a complaint lodged by the State�s Home and Political Department, a case was registered by the CID on August 17, 2015 (No. 41/2015 U/S 120B/406/420 IPC R/W Sec 13 (I) (d) of the PC Act to investigate in to the allegation. The CID also took over the Dispur Police Station case (No. 1498/2015) on the strength of the order passed by the Court of Additional CJM, Kamrup (Metro) on September 24, 2015, said the CIS SSP in his affidavit.
During the investigation, the investigating officer seized all the relevant files and documents relating to the tender process, bid evaluation, finalization of the project management consultancy (PMC) contract etc linked with the Guwahati Water Supply Project from the offices of the Guwahati Development Department (GDD) and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and scrutinized. The relevant documents including those relating to the sub-contracts of Louis Berger were also seized from the Louis Berger�s Guwahati office and those too were scrutinized.
Six officials of the GDD and the GMDA, who were connected with the bidding and tender process for the PMC contract, have also been examined and their statements have also been recorded in connection with the case.
Five present and four former Louis Berger officials, besides Prashna Shah, director of the consortium partner Shah Technical Consultancy, Mumbai, were also examined and their statements were also recorded.
