Kamat trying to cover up multi-crore rupee scam: BJP

PANAJI - Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is trying to cover up a multi-crore rupee excise evasion scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Wednesday, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.

The BJP said profits from the scam, in which Kamat’s role as the minister concerned is suspect, were being used to fund terror-networks.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, party spokesperson Rajendra Arlekar said that the appointment of controversial bureaucrat Rajiv Yaduvanshi, an Indian Administrative Service officer who is also a special secretary to Kamat, as an enquiry officer in the excise scam probe was a farce.

“How can an officer who is a special secretary to the chief minister, investigate the chief minister himself?” said Arlekar.

The BJP which had exposed the Rs.40 crore scam during the last assembly session held in March had accused the state excise department of being part of a multi-state excise scam in which illicit and unaccounted liquor consignments worth crores of rupees were sent to states bordering Pakistan, like Rajasthan and Punjab, and several states in the northeast.

According to official records, which were produced by leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar, several poorly documented consignments worth crores of rupees of liquor would just vanish into thin air, while on their way to the border states, resulting in huge losses to the exchequer.

Parrikar had said on the floor of the house that then excise commissioner Sandip Jaques was directly involved in the scam and that the officer was being protected by Kamat, who is also the state finance minister.

Pointing an accusing finger at Yaduvanshi, Arlekar said that the officer had been transferred out of Goa at least six times, but each time he was not relieved of his duties by the political bosses.

“Yaduvanshi is secretary of most of the sensitive portfolios like mining, finance, town and country planning and forests. The excise scam probe should be handed over to the CBI and not be handled by a secretary-level officer,” Arlekar said.