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.
On sustained interrogation, it was revealed that Manoj Kumar had marital issues with his wife due to which he started sending friend requests to random women on social media and would harass them through calling and messaging apps.
The government said that not many in the age group of 21 to 24 years have savings of Rs 12 lakh and after four years many big companies have announced to hire 'skilled' and 'disciplined' Agniveers. Graduation courses will also start for Agniveers which will be recognised in India and abroad.
For last three days, Rahul Gandhi was grilled for about 30 hours in total by a three-member ED team. On Wednesday, the Congress leader's questioning ended at around 10 p.m. but he left the ED headquarters at around 11:45 p.m.
The police have identified four shooters behind the crime, an official statement said. Moosewala, who left his house at around 5 p.m. on May 29 along with two persons -- Gurwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh (cousin) -- was shot dead by unidentified people.
The official added that a case was registered on September 25, 2020, against the private firm and others on the allegations of causing losses to the tune of Rs 2040.63 crore to the consortium of 12 banks led by PNB.
The CBI had registered a case on April 13, 2016 on the request of Chandigarh Administration and had taken over the investigation of the FIR earlier registered at Police Station, Sector-26, Chandigarh.
