Panaji, Feb 3 (IANS) An income tax (IT) paper trail claiming controversial Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate got Rs.26.5 crore in kickbacks from shady real estate deals could change the pitch of campaigning ahead of the March 3 polls though the man claims he has done no wrong.
The IT investigation said a former bureaucrat was a conduit for kickbacks to Monserrate, who allegedly received the money to convert massive tracts of prime farm land into orchard areas to facilitate real estate development when he was was minister for town and country planning in the Congress-led coalition government in 2005-07.
Though the Congress minister has denied the findings, leaked to the media earlier this week, the opposition has described the damning paper trail as a “weapon” for campaigning.
“We are going to use it to the fullest. It is a weapon in our hands. It is a central government agency report and the Congress is ruling at the centre now. It is their own document, which indicts their own minister,” BJP spokesperson Vishnu Wagh told reporters, adding the documents reveal corruption in the Digambar Kamat-led government.
Monserrate, however, said he was in the clear and all his transactions above board. “I have done nothing wrong. My paperwork is clean. If any explanation is sought by the party, I will tell my party alone, not anyone else,” Monserrate told IANS.
The ‘sudden’ disclosure in the media also comes at a time when Monserrate had been lobbying for an assembly ticket for himself and his wife Jennifer. The damning IT report could put paid to his bargaining power with the Congress high command.
“It is a fact that around January 2006, the Regional Plan 2011 was announced and Atanasio Monserrate was influential enough to extend help with respect to conversion of particular lands,” states the IT assessment report prepared by V.S. Chakrapani, deputy commissioner of income tax, Panaji.
A sub-section in the report, titled ‘Evidence in support of indirect payment to Atanasio Monserrate’, also indicts Monseratte’s son Rohit, who is also a partner in companies operated by his father.
The probe report states that two companies operated by Monserrate and his son, M/s Good Earth Developers and M/s Raj Hospitality Pvt Ltd, received Rs.26.5 crore from real estate developers based in various metros, including Bangalore, in return for the conversion of land.
The report names a former bureaucrat and the promoter of a local construction firm, Emaar builders Sadik Sheikj, who were known to be close to Monserrate.
“The paper seized … residence is self explanatory and the consequent trail of the amount up to the hands of company/firm belonging to Monserrate has been properly established with the help of evidences gathered,” the report states.
Monserrate has been in trouble before.
He was detained by airport authorities in Mumbai in April last year for carrying foreign currency in excess of stipulated norms.
The education minister has had a tainted past having been booked for offences such as arson, extortion and leading a mob attack on a police station. He was also booked for abetting his son Rohit, in a rape case involving a minor German girl.
While the minister was dropped from the case for lack of evidence, Rohit was acquitted for lack of evidence.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
