Goa minister Mauvin Godinho acquitted in 27-year-old ‘power rebate scam’

PANAJI: A local margaret court in Goa on mon not guilty the say’s government minister of transport and panchayats, Mauvin Godinho, in a corruption case filed 27 years ago.Godinho, who was minister for power in the Congress government in 1998, announced a scheme to allow industrial units to claim 25% of their power costs as rebate. A total of ₹4.3 crore was returned to industries under the scheme. However, then leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar alleged a scam, pointing out that the scheme was notified without due approval from the state cabinet, causing loss to the state exchequer to the tune of ₹4.5 crore.On Monday, principal district and sessions judge Irshad Aga, acquitted Godinho and then chief engineer of the power department, T Nagarajan, of the charges.Godinho was arrested in the case in 2001 after Manohar Parrikar became chief minister for the first time the previous year.Parrikar had lodged a complaint in May 1998, which alleged that Godinho had committed fraud by issuing two notifications in 1996 to grant rebates of 25 per cent to ‘extra high tension’ industrial units without approval of the Cabinet. In his complaint, Parrikar had alleged that despite a notification issued by the state government in 1991 to grant a power rebate of 25 per cent to the industrial units at the 1988 tariff for a period of five years being rescinded in 1995, Godinho again issued notifications in 1996 without approval of the Cabinet and granted rebate as per the prevailing tariffs which had caused loss to the state exchequer.Godinho was booked and arrested on charges of committing forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In 2006, the special court framed charges against Godinho under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code.“From 1998 till today -- 27 years, a false politically motivated case was filed against me. I always maintained that it was not a prosecution but a political persecution. Today that has been confirmed,” Godinho said after his acquittal.“For 27 years the press has painted me black because I released ₹4.32 crore as a subsidy. Today it is miniscule amount compared to what subsidies are being given to other industries. But somehow I was singled out,” he said. 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.Godinho, now a member of the BJP and a minister in the government, refused to blame Parrikar for the “false case”.“I don’t have anything to say about Manohar Parrikar. He at the time was the leader of the Opposition. When I was in the Congress some of our own people were feeding him information. If I was (in his position) I would probably have done the same thing. It was not his mistake. As an opposition leader you are supposed to take up some issues provided there is substance in it,” Godinho said.Godino joined the BJP in 2017 and was welcomed into the party by Manohar 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.