Allegations in Britain against Goa officials to be probed

Panaji, Jan 30 (IANS) Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar Friday promised a probe into allegations made Tuesday in the British Parliament that government officials in Goa were duping British citizens.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of a post-cabinet press conference Parsekar said: "I have heard this. It is a serious matter. I will enquire into this. I'll find out what the issue is."

On Tuesday Conservative MP Tim Loughton who represents the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency in South East England raised in the Parliament's Westminster Hall, the issue of bogus complaints against British nationals who have purchased land here.

The MP in his discussion also cited a specific case where he claimed two British citizens, were inconvenienced due to the seizure of a hotel they had purchased in the south Goan village of Canacona, 100 kms from Panaji.

He added that property purchases by several hundred other British nationals in Goa were in peril.

"The subject has potential to ruin the parents of one of my constituents and apparently affect 100s of others who are invested in property in Goa," he said, adding that British nationals were "frustrated by lack of action by Indians and Goan officials" also alleging "blatant corrupt practices at work".

The MP also said that he had raised the issue with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as well as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar but to no avail.

In 2008, the state government had asked the ED to probe nearly 480 cases where land in Goa was purchased by foreigners using allegedly fraudulent means (before 2008), after official enquiries revealed that several revenue and Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) foreign investment norms were allegedly flouted in these real estate transactions.

The government also froze sale of land to foreigners in Goa pending the completion of the ED probe, especially as a police probe revealed that a coastal property in Morjim, 30 kms from here, was purchased by a company partly owned by Russian nationals with alleged mafia links.

Land deals made by foreign nationals pre-2008, worth more than Rs.7 crore are being probed by the ED.

Currently, around 200 are under various stages of investigation, while 22 properties which had been illegally purchased had been confiscated by the agency. In many of the cases, the owners of the confiscated property had gone in appeal before the Special Director (Appeals) in Mumbai.