‘I even stopped going to Church’
Panaji : A special court in North Goa on Monday acquitted Transport and Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho in the 27-year-old power rebate ‘scam’.
Pronouncing the verdict in open court, special judge Irshad Agha cleared Godinho of all charges.
“I had to wait for 27 years but I got justice. Truth always triumphs,” he said.
The minister was present in the court during the pronouncement of the judgment. As power minister in 1998, Godinho was accused of granting a 25 per cent electricity tariff rebate to industries under a June 27, 1998 notification, allegedly causing a loss of Rs 4.52 crore to the exchequer.
The case, exposed by the then Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar, alleged the rebate was issued without a cabinet approval.
“I don’t have anything to say about Manohar Parrikar. He at the time was the leader of the Opposition. Who in the Opposition will leave a chance if the ruling party itself gave in their hand readymade material. I will never blame Parrikar. If I was in his position I would probably have done the same thing. Personally, I would not have done it but any other leader would have. It was not his mistake,” he said.
“For 27 years, the press and people painted me black because I released the subsidy. Today it is miniscule amount compared to what subsidies are being given to other industries. But somehow I was singled out,” the minister said.
He said he was shunned to such an extent that he avoid public functions and even stopped going to Church.
The Goa crime branch, which investigated the case, had arrested Godinho in May 2001 along with the then chief electrical engineer of the power department T Nagarajan, and was later released on bail.
After years of proceedings, the court has now given Godinho and others involved in the case a clean chit.
Parrikar, in his complaint to the state police, had alleged the rebate was granted without proper consultation of the state cabinet, which was the violation of the Rules of Business governing government decisions.
In 2006, the special court framed charges against Godinho under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
All accused had earlier prayed for discharging them from the case. Godinho had moved an application before the trial court praying to stop proceedings and to discharge him of the offences.
He had contested that there was no provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure for reinvestigation in a case. However, the state government had strongly opposed Godinho’s plea for discharge in the power rebate case and had sought trial to proceed.
The court had dismissed applications filed by him and two others seeking discharge from the case, asking them to face trial.
Godinho had, at various stages, sought relief and quashing of trial proceedings which was denied, first by the High Court and later by the Supreme Court, which held there was enough material to carry forward with the trial.
He joined the BJP in 2017 and was welcomed into the party by Parrikar, who at the time said that Godinho had only “attempted to” commit a wrongdoing, but that there was no actual loss to the state exchequer.
