New Delhi [India], June 20 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against the then Chief Manager of Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, some private companies and unknown public servants for alleged "criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct" by abusing official position in the project related to dredging to increase the depth of the navigational channel and handle larger size cargo ships.
The CBI has filed a case against the then chief manager of JNPT Mumbai, Tata Consulting Engineers, BoskalisSmit India LLP, Jan De Nul Dredging Private Limited and unknown public servants and private individuals.
The CBI had, in 2022, registered a preliminary enquiry against the then officials of JNPT for alleged collusion with private companies leading to preparation of "inflated estimates, restriction of competition in order favour international bidders, extension of undue favour to contractors and suppression of reports of independent experts".
The FIR said that during the course of enquiry, "criminal conspiracy between the JNPT officials and other private persons, resulting in the wrongful loss amounting to Rs. 365.90 crore for phase I and Rs. 438 crore for phase II to JNPT due to over-dredging has surfaced".
The total amount involved in "wrongful loss" is to the tune of about Rs 800 crore.
The preliminary inquiry looked into allegations of pecuniary advantage obtained by the private companies as a result of abuse of official position by the JNPT officials "resulting into a huge wrongful loss to the exchequer, spread over period from 2003 to 2014 (phase-l of the project) and 2013 to 2019 (phase-ll of project)".
The allegations included undue favour to a foreign bidder and shadow bidding arrangements to support the cartel.