Maharashtra govt orders probe into Louis Berger contracts in Mumbai

“An additional chief secretary-level officer will be asked to probe all these contracts. A full-fledged inquiry will be constituted if deviations while awarding the contracts come to light,” Fadnavis said.

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Louis Berger has served as a management consultant for infrastructure projects in Mumbai, including the Mumbai Metro One rail service, Monorail, Navi Mumbai international airport and Santacruz Chembur Link Road.

The controversy erupted last month following a report that the firm had admitted in a US court to paying bribes to top Indian government officials for bagging projects in Goa and Guwahati. This brought the firm’s India unit under scrutiny.

As in Goa, the Mumbai projects were awarded when the previous Congress-NCP regime was in power. Most of these projects were awarded between 2008 and 2010.

Fadnavis, however, clarified that he had “no political vendetta” in mind while ordering the probe. “I constituted the probe more as a matter of precaution. The bribery allegations against the firm (in Goa) are of a serious nature,” he said.

Lawyer Vivekanand Gupta, who is also a secretary with the BJP in Mumbai, had earlier filed a private complaint with a magistrate’s court in Mumbai seeking criminal action against the authorities and Louis Berger for alleged irregularities in these contracts.

“The firm has admitted to paying bribes for contracts. It must be blacklisted throughout the country, and its existing contracts must be revoked,” Gupta had argued.