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Sting operation on Churchill 6 other MPs shown seeking bribe under MPLAD BY HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, DEC 19 South Goa MP Churchill Alemao was among seven MPs shown on STAR TV for allegedly seeking commission in lieu of allocating funds for projects under Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), in a sting operation that evoked sharp reactions. A former minister in the NDA government, two other MPs each from BJP and Samajwadi party and one from BSP were among others shown on camera in Operation Chakravyuh, jointly launched by Detective Intelligence Guild (DIG), an investigating agency with Star TV. Churchill Alemao, allegedly demanded Rs 3 lakh for sanctioning a Rs 20 lakh project for opening a mobile library ironically for the promotion of Konkani in South Goa, the news agency said. Alemao had been a stalwart during the Konkani movement in the 80s. A group of reporters of DIG had met him in Delhi by posing as officials of a fictitious NGO called Ashray Abhiyan where according to Star TVs transcript, he sought commission and later an advance. The team told him they would pay him the amount provided he wrote a letter to the District Collector allocating the project. This angered the MP but the deal was not struck off. The letter was typed out but, had to be redrafted due to an error. The NGO agreed to pay only Rs 50,000 as advance instead of Rs 1 lakh, but on suspicion of a sting operation, he threatened to check the bags of the reporters at which the sting team scrambled out. The sting operation came a week after Aaj Tak-Cobrapost.com caught 11 MPs on camera under a sting called Operation Duryodhana for demanding money for raising questions in Parliament. PTI adds: The Operation Chakravyuh showed BJP MP Fagan Singh Kulaste and Samajwadi Party MP and another supported by it involved in corruption in allotting work for the MPLAD. Transcripts and event descriptions of the meeting with MPs released by Star News said that Samajwadi Party MP Toofani Saroj was honest and refused to discuss or accept any commission. The sting operation also shows Yuvraj Siingh, personal secretary of Fagan Singh Kulaste, a former Union minister, taking money on behalf of BJP MP Chandra Pratap Singh, who was also exposed in the cash-on-camera Operation Duryodhan last week. Yuvraj Singh was again shown accepting money for Kulaste, a Lok Sabha member, who signs the recommendation letter for a particular scheme. Others shown in the sting operation are Ramswaroop Koli (BJP), Paras Nath Yadav (SP), Sakshi Maharaj (Rashtriya Kranti Dal supported by SP), and Isan Singh (BSP). The sting team is shown discussing commission with Ramswaroop Koli, inside his house. The team audio records the transaction with MP Om Prakash to establish that money has been paid and that the MP would get Rs 20,000 for a Rs 5 lakh job and he would get Rs 5,000. Samajwadi Party MP, Paras Nath Yadav is approached by the DIG reporters where a 20 per cent commission is agreed upon for a Rs 10-15 lakh project. But when the sting team offers him only Rs 50,000, the MP throws tantrums. Sakshi Maharaj, a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, openly discusses commission and promises to take the sting team posing as NGOs to some other MPs, including Chhatrapal Singh, who was suspended in the wake of the cash-on-camera operation. The RKD MP justifies accepting such commissions saying that it would be difficult to contest the Lok Sabha polls if one did not take such money. Isam Singh, BSP, was shown saying that the issue of commissions on the MPLAD would be worked out after consultations with other colleagues, the release added. http://oheraldo.in/node/7711?PHPSESSID=62f93c56e3fb6fb271efc8322cdcddf8 How Churchill-gate unfolded Your comment has been queued for moderation by site administrators and will be published after approval. Star News-Detective Intelligence Guild conducted a joint operation Operation Chakravyuh to investigate corruption in allotting work for MP-LAD Funds. Following is the transcript and event description of Stars News meeting with Goa MP Churchill Alemao, made available to the Herald by sources at Star News: Name: Churchill Alemao Lok Sabha (Mormugao South Goa) Party: Congress (I) Address: AB 90, Shahajahan Road Meetings: 4 Dates: October 11, 2005 Morning November 24 2005 Morning November 24 2005 Evening November 29, 2005 - Morning Detail: The first contact with Churchill was established by DIG reporter who was formerly acquainted with Churchill Alemao. Churchill a former chief minister of Goa was informed that one Rahul Sharma had conceptualised a project fashioned to uplift and popularise Konkani and wanted to meet him. We were trying to gauge whether a person who claims to have flung himself at the altar of Konkani during the language agitation of the 1980s, seek a commission on an MPLAD project to popularise the same language. We found out soon enough. In the first meeting itself Churchill after listening to what the project was about asked us point blank what his commission would be if he granted us MPLAD funds. It was roughly arrived at, that we would pay him 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the amount he would allow us for the Konkani related project. DIG reporter colleague Jamshed Khan who was using the alias of Rahul Sharma introduced himself as the lobbying manager for a fictitious NGO called ASHRAY ABHIYAAN. When we told Churchill that we were willing to pay him Rs 2 lakh for the MPLAD project. But Churchill then suggested that people normally paid Rs 3 lakh for such a chore. During the second meeting Rahul Sharma meets him alone and gets talking about the letter. We suggest to him that we had come with some money, which we would pay him in exchange for the Konkani library project funded by his MPLAD monies. He says he wants one lakh, while we whittle down the bribe to Rs 50,000. He agrees and asks his personal secretary Mr Goel to do the needful (i.e. type a letter to the effect we wanted on his letterhead). He also tells us that when we meet him the next morning, he would have the letter ready for us. He also instructs us not to speak to the PA about anything. We call him up and patch up a meeting with him the same night i.e. on the 24th itself. The third meeting happens at his residence. He is hosting a delegation of freedom fighters from Goa who have called on him. After the meeting with the freedom fighters, he takes the DIG representatives to his bedroom and then asks us to leave the money behind, which we refuse to do so. We insist on seeing the letter first and say that only then that we will leave the letter behind. This ruffles his ego. He asks us in an irritated tenor whether we did not trust him. The letter is handed over to us and we point out that there is an error in the letter after which the letter is redrafted. But then the fact that we have ruffled Churchill is a evident. He now asks us to come with a proposal the next morning with one lakh or not come at all. We do not go the next day for operational reasons. However we do meet him some days later. We have already patched up an appointment over phone. The change is evident. Churchill immediately asks us to open the bag, we have carried the money in. He suspects correctly (sic) that we have been recording the sessions with him. We sense something amiss. Only now he demands an advance of Rs 2 lakh before moving ahead with the deal. We barely manage to scramble out of this safely, before he gets on with his threat of checking our bags. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Spread the Christmas cheer - even when you're not here! Send Christmas Greetings to your loved ones in Goa. 2005 Christmas Package - Flowers, Bubbles and Layers of Love. http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/xmas/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------