The Union Home Ministry has given a go-ahead for issuing Letters Rogatory (LR) to a US court, seeking a statement of a former top executive of construction management company Louis Berger International Inc, sources have said. The New Jersey-based company allegedly bribed officials in Goa and Guwahati to secure government contracts for waterworks development projects. The Goa government had approached the Ministry for its nod to issue an LR to obtain Louis Berger’s former senior vice president James McClung’s statement and other documents from the court in New Jersey. The bribery charges against the company correspond to the time when McClung, 59, was responsible for Louis Berger’s operations in the country. The state police had earlier summoned McClung at Louis Berger’s offices in Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Louis Berger allegedly paid bribes to the tune of $ 9,76,630 for the Goa project in August 2010. So far, Goa’s former PWD minister Churchill Alemao, former JICA project director Anand Wachasundar, former Louis Berger vice president Satyakam Mohanty and alleged hawala operator Raychand Soni have been arrested in connection with the case. Mohanty and Soni have been released on bail. Former CM Digambar Kamat has been granted anticipatory bail.
