Akali Dal smells Rs 500cr AAP liquor scam in Punjab
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Aug, 2022 10:19 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 25 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said the party would appeal to the Punjab Governor to take action in the Rs 500-crore AAP excise scam, besides filing complaints with the CBI and the ED into kickbacks received by the party from the liquor cartel in Punjab.
Addressing the media here, Badal said "there should be a free and fair inquiry against all political leaders, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, as well as Punjab government officials who facilitated the scam".
Asserting that AAP had followed the Delhi model while framing the Punjab excise policy, he said "like in the state of Delhi, nearly the entire liquor trade was handed over to two companies".
Badal said the profit margin of the two companies was doubled to facilitate a quid pro quo. "Hundreds of crores have been passed back to the AAP government in Punjab and the AAP high command in Delhi."
Sharing details, Badal said while framing the new excise policy, the Punjab government had followed its AAP counterparts in Delhi. "It stipulated that each liquor manufacturing company would choose one licensee to sell its products in the state and that the L-1 licensee should not be a manufacturer in India or abroad. It also stated that L-1 licensees should have a turnover of least Rs 30 crore per annum and should not have any stake in the retail market in Punjab which took the Punjab liquor traders out of the race."
He said in the case of Punjab, the profit margin of the licensee was also doubled from the earlier five per cent to 10 per cent.
Badal said the policy resulted in the handover of nearly the entire liquor trade to two companies -- Brindco owned by Aman Dhall and Anant Wines which was owned by the Mehra group.
While Raghav Chadha spearheaded meetings with members of the two groups in a suite on the fifth floor of Chandigarh's Hyatt hotel, two meetings were held at Sisodia's residence on May 30 and June 6 which were attended by Punjab government officers, including the Financial Commissioner and the Excise Commissioner.
He said the names of the private players who were called to fix the deals were kept secret with Sisodia referring to them at Mr Mango and Mr Cucumber during the meeting with Punjab government officials.
Asserting that the twin CBI and the ED probes could only reveal the truth in the case, Badal said the movements of accused leaders and officers should be checked as well as examination of CCTV cameras at prescribed locations.
He said the kickbacks received due to doubling of the profit margin from five per cent to 10 per cent should also be probed as well as the assertion that the kickbacks received from the liquor cartel in Delhi were used to contest the Punjab elections by AAP.
Badal said now when a first information report (FIR) had been registered in the Delhi excise scam, the same should be done in case of Punjab also.
"The policy and policy makers are the same. The modus operandi to loot the state exchequer is the same."
He said in case of Delhi after complaints about loot of the state exchequer the Lt. governor ordered the chief secretary to conduct an inquiry which came up with the findings of a quid pro quo at the top level in the Delhi government.
"The report also held that the Delhi excise policy violated excise laws and was aimed at giving undue favours to the liquor licensees at the cost of the state exchequer."
Badal said following this a CBI inquiry was ordered into the scam and an FIR was registered against the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and 14 others.
He said the ED had registered a separate case of money laundering also.
Sharing a picture of a recent meeting, he said: "Sharing a picture from my most recent meeting with my dear friend, Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. Always passionate about strengthening India-Japan ties, he had just taken over as the Chairman of the Japan-India Association."
Mann, 48, divorced his first wife Inderpreet Kaur in 2015. He has two children from that marriage -- daughter Seerat Kaur Mann (21) and son Dilshan Singh Mann (17), who attended Mann's swearing-in ceremony on March 16. The Chief Minister made a surprise wedding announcement a day earlier. It is believed to be an arranged marriage.
Arora, who has been elected for the second consecutive time as the MLA from Sunam, expressed gratitude towards the party national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and assured that he would discharge the responsibility assigned to him with honesty and dedication.
The motive behind the murder was not yet clear, according to the police. Police said, the man went to a local market for shopping along with his family. He was shot dead when he was on his way back home.
In his previous marriage to Inderpreet Kaur, which ended in a divorce in 2016, Mann has two children -- son Dilshan and daughter Seerat -- who are currently staying in the US with their mother. Both children had attended Mann's swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan on March 16.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister's office said all domestic consumers in the state would be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle. This will give a big reprieve to the domestic consumers who have to hitherto shell out huge money every month in the form of power tariff.
