Goa CM Pramod Sawant's wife has been named in bribery-for-jobs scam: Sanjay Singh

New Delhi [India], December 5 (ANI): Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh, alongside AAP Goa President Amit Palekar, alleged that the BJP engaged in large-scale corruption in job recruitment.

They claimed that Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's wife had been named in the scandal, with former Governor Satyapal Malik stating that she accepted money in exchange for jobs, according to a press release from AAP.

AAP leaders revealed that the whistleblower who exposed this scam lost his life. Amit Palekar questioned why the government fears setting up a judicial inquiry if no BJP leader is involved. The party has demanded accountability and transparency in the matter. Sanjay Singh highlighted the ongoing unemployment crisis in Goa, where the Aam Aadmi Party's two MLAs and the organization are steadfastly acting as a robust opposition, raising critical public issues, the release stated.
Addressing the youth and people of Goa from Delhi, he criticized the BJP-led government, stating, "Goa's youth are struggling to find jobs, wandering door to door in search of opportunities. Over the past ten years, the BJP government in Goa has turned employment into a tool of corruption. Jobs have been sold in exchange for bribes, and this malpractice reaches the highest echelons, involving not just ordinary individuals but even Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's wife, his ministers, and their close associates."
Sanjay Singh further emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating that the scandal took a darker turn when a woman who had visited a minister's residence was implicated in bribery. Following the incident, ministers were dismissed, arrests were made, and tragically, a key individual who was aware of the job scams ended his life under immense pressure, stated the release.
He said, "What I am about to share is not a minor issue; it is a massive scam involving corruption and bribery in the name of employment in Goa. This scandal implicates the Chief Minister, his ministers, his wife, and numerous middlemen."
Sanjay Singh went on to reveal that the first major scam surfaced in 2018, linked to recruitment for positions such as Junior Engineer (JE), Upper Division Clerk (UDC), Lower Division Clerk (LDC), and posts in the PWD department, the release mentioned.
He stated that the government took massive bribes during these recruitments. The then-PWD Minister, Deepak Pauskar, was removed from his position and denied an election ticket due to his involvement in corrupt practices. "However, shockingly, just before the Lok Sabha elections, Deepak Pauskar was reinstated into the party," he added.
Sanjay Singh further exposed another scam involving contractual jobs advertised by the Goa Human Resources Development Corporation after Pramod Sawant returned as Chief Minister. He revealed that around 30,000 people had applied for 945 positions. However, upon investigation by Aam Aadmi Party leaders, it was found that 6,000 applications were mysteriously missing. This discovery raised serious concerns about the transparency and fairness of the recruitment process, the release stated.
He said, "This series of job scams, marked by corruption and exploitation of Goa's youth, has exposed the BJP government's failures. It is not just an issue of governance but a betrayal of the hopes and dreams of thousands of unemployed youths in Goa."
Sanjay Singh continued, "This is a scandal of a completely unprecedented scale. The identities of the applicants--who these young men and women are, and who filled out the forms--are completely unknown. Forms numbered from one to six thousand are untraceable. This indicates that 945 jobs had already been sold in advance, with bribes having already been taken for them. The names of selected individuals were put on paper, and jobs were handed over to them." (ANI)