Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday that half the government officials in the state administration would go behind bars if the "scams committed during the former Congress-led government" were to be investigated.
"There is virtually no local (government) officer who is not involved in the illegalities (during the former government). They were involved in the scams like recruitment, where they have signed the documents,," Parrikar told an annual general meeting of Goa Small Industries Association in Panaji on Friday.
"If I am harsh, then half of the officers will go to jail. They will face criminal action," the chief minister said, adding that he had to take almost one and half year after assuming charge to get the administration working.
"There are direct evidences against them with me. When I took over, the officers could not function, as they were worried. So I had to tell them to tell the investigating authorities that they had done the irregularities at the behest of the then ministers," Parrikar stated.
He accused former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat of completely "destroying" the administration for corruption. "I initially thought that the first sin of Kamat was corruption, but I was wrong. The first sin was total destruction of the administration," Parrikar said.
