A local court on Monday acquitted Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho in connection with alleged irregularities in a ‘power rebate scam’ in Goa dating back to 1998.
Godinho, who was the minister for power in the Congress-led government in 1998, along with the-then chief electrical engineer of power department T Nagarajan and officials of some industries were accused of collusion for allegedly granting rebates to some industrial units for power consumption and causing a loss of over Rs 4.5 crore to the state exchequer. BJP’s Manohar Parrikar, who was in the Opposition at the time, had lodged a complaint alleging that Godinho committed fraud by issuing two notifications in 1996 to grant 25 percent rebate to the industrial units without the approval of the Cabinet, following which an FIR was registered.
In 2001, when Parrikar was the chief minister, Godinho was arrested by Goa Police. A Special court framed charges against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in 2006. In 2007, the high court held that prima facie there was material to frame charges against the accused. The Supreme Court in 2018 upheld the High Court order to proceed with the trial.
Godinho joined the BJP in 2016 – two months before the 2017 assembly polls – and went on to become a minister in the Parrikar-led Cabinet.
After his acquittal in the case on Monday, Godinho said he was happy that justice has been delivered after a “long wait of 27 years.”
“I always maintained that this was not prosecution as such. This was political persecution and abuse of the process of law. Ultimately, truth has to triumph. I wonder who is going to give me back my honour and dignity, what I lost in these 27 years…all the ignominy, the bad publicity. It was a media trial. What was the allegation against me? There was no quid pro quo, there was no corruption. I did not go to the Cabinet, where a notification was brought. I can point out hundreds of such cases where the Cabinet took decisions…by oversight…the Ministers cleared those decisions. It did not go back to Cabinet. Conveniently, I was framed,” he said.
Godinho, who is also holding industries, trade and commerce and Panchayati Raj portfolios, said he does not blame Parrikar for the case.
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“I don’t want to take any names. I want to thank all those who actually filed this case systematically. If you are going to impute names, then which Leader of the Opposition or whoever in the Opposition…will leave a chance when the ruling party itself gives ready-made material in their hands? So, I will never blame the late Manohar Parrikar. Perhaps if I was the Leader of the Opposition, I would have done the same thing. Personally, I would not, but any other politician would have done it. Politically, the ruling [party] and the Opposition…we are always aligned for or against. So, why should I blame him?” he added.
