Parrikar quizzed by CBI in IFFI scam

PANAJI - Goa’s former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was Thursday questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about an alleged scam related to expenditure on infrastructure development for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2004.

CBI officials also said that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat would also be examined as a witness in course of the investigation.

Speaking to IANS after a two-hour session with CBI officials, Parrikar said that he was asked nearly 60 questions relating to creation of infrastructure for the event.

“Their questions were based on the observations made in a 2005 report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG), which was a fraudulent exercise, not in conformation with procedure itself,” he said.

“I also told them that along with Kamat, several other cabinet ministers, including those in the present government were a part of the decision making process and that they should be questioned too,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, alleged that the Congress party was manipulating the CBI to run down opposition leaders.

“The case was filed in 2005 and this is the third time the CBI has initiated the process. Every time there is a crisis in the Congress, they resort to using the CBI to pressurise,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar also alleged that the CBI’s move to summon him could be a direct consequence of his unearthing multi-crore scams in the excise, mining, power departments and real estate sector in which senior Congress leaders, including the chief minister and top ranking bureaucrats were involved.

Speaking to reporters, CBI superintendent S.S. Gavali said that Kamat would also be examined in connection with the IFFI scam.

“We will be examining Kamat too. We have already recorded the statements of 35 people, which includes 12 members of the IFFI core committee,” he said.

The CBI complaint follows a first information report (FIR) filed by Congress activist Mauvin Godinho accusing Parrikar, chief minister of a BJP-led coalition in 2004, of financial misappropriation while creating the infrastructure, which includes a multiplex complex where the IFFI is hosted.