CBI to file charge sheet in IFFI scam by year-end

Panaji, Oct 7 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will file a charge sheet by the year-end in the multi-crore scam in infrastructure creation for the 2004 International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, police said Thursday.

Superintendent of Police S.S. Gavli told reporters that investigations in the 2004 scam were over. Former chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manohar Parrikar is an accused in the scam.

'The charge sheet will be filed at the end of the year,' Gavli told reporters.

In the complaint, Congress leader Mauvin Godinho had accused Parrikar of financial embezzlement while building infrastructure for the 2004 IFFI, which was being held in Goa for the first time.

Several top leaders, including Parrikar and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who was then a BJP leader and a key member of the IFFI organising committee, have been questioned by the CBI. Kamat had subsequently quit the BJP and joined the Congress.