PANAJI
In a reprieve for PWD Minister Digambar Kamat (ex-CM) and former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao, the Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday quashed the order taking cognizance of the offence against them in the money laundering case related to the predicate offence in the Louis Berger bribery scandal.
Justice Ashish S Chavan delivered the ruling on Monday, disposing off two criminal revision applications filed separately by Kamat and Alemao.
Chavan held that the Special Court at Mapusa erred in taking cognizance of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) without prior sanction under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The ED conceded that no sanction had been obtained when cognizance was taken on July 21, 2018.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s 2025 judgment in Directorate of Enforcement vs Bibhu Prasad Acharya, Justice Chavan ruled that section 197 CrPC applies to PMLA proceedings involving public servants.
“The cognizance order cannot be sustained in the light of the fact that no previous sanction was obtained,” the court observed.
The order of cognizance and process issued in 2018 now stands set aside. However, Chavan said the ED retains liberty to seek sanction and move the Special Court afresh.
The Louis Berger bribery scandal erupted in 2015 when the US-based consultancy firm admitted in a New Jersey court to paying bribes to secure water supply and sewerage contracts in Goa and Guwahati under the JICA scheme.
