Finally, noose is tightening around Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal after it was revealed that his deputy and Education Minister Manish Sisodia had gained ‘unfair advantage’ by privatising liquor business in the State and giving multiple retail licences to big companies. AAP which rose to power as a party that fought corruption is finding its leaders embroiled in a slew of corruption charges. The first case that blew upon the face of the AAP leadership was a money-laundering case involving one of the key Ministers in the Cabinet, Satyendar Jain. After a probe by Enforcement Directorate, Jain was arrested on May 30, 2022. The ED on June 6 had seized Rs 2.85 crore cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendra Jain’s aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The agency had also seized various incriminating documents and digital records during these raids. The most lethal slap on the AAP leadership’s face was the Abkari scam involving Kejriwal’s confident Manish Sisodia. Taking offence as the best form of defence, AAP tried to cleverly deflect the issue by enlisting Sisodia’s performance as Education Minister. But AAP’s rivals were in no mood to let him off the hook so easily. They alleged that the AAP Government had allowed ‘cartelisation’ in liquor business by giving multiple retail licenses to big companies. Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Delhi Government handed over wholesale liquor business to private players despite the expert panel recommending against it.
Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22
The Delhi Government brought in new excise policy enabling private players into the market. Previously, four government corporations ran 475 of Delhi’s total 864 liquor stores. Delhi was divided into 32 zones and a total of 27 private vendors were allowed to open liquor shops in each zone. This meant every municipal ward had two-three liquor vendors operating in the area, much to chagrin of local residents. Under the new policy, 849 liquor licences were awarded to private companies through open bidding. Further, the private liquor shops were allowed to offer discounts on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) in order to attract consumers. They were allowed to deliver liquor at home, and even keep their shops open till 3 am. The Delhi Government had said the policy would eliminate the liquor mafia, increase revenue for the Government, and enhance the consumer experience.
This policy change resulted in a 27 per cent increase in Government revenue to Rs 8,900 crore and marked the complete exit of the Delhi Government from the liquor business. On July 8, 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar found irregularities and procedural lapses in the new liquor policy and sent a report to Lt Governor V K Saxena accusing Manish Sisodia of providing undue benefits to those holding liquor licences. He alleged the benefits were extended in return for the money that was used by the AAP in the Punjab Assembly elections. Financial quid pro quo at the top political level, wherein the Minister In-charge of the Excise Department, Manish Sisodia, took and got executed, major decisions in violation of the statutory provisions and the notified Excise Policy that had huge financial implications. Sisodia reportedly waived off Rs 144.36 crore on the licence fee, to be paid by the private liquor vendors, under the pretext of the pandemic. He also caused loss to the Excise Department and provided benefits to liquor licensees by waiving the import pass fee of Rs 50 per beer case, the report claimed. He also allegedly made several modifications in the tender with ulterior motive of raking in money. The Government made several policy tweaks which encouraged cartelisation, alleged BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. According to an investigation, it was found that the promoters and shareholders of one of the companies which was blacklisted by the Madhya Pradesh Government for evading excise duty was awarded a licence in contravention to New Excise Policy of Delhi 2021-22.
CBI sources claimed that Vijay Nair, founder of Only Much Louder (OML), a Mumbai-headquartered company, known for organising the NH7 Weekender concerts and AIB’s roast shows, had been working as a part time volunteer with the AAP for over eight years and organised several events for them. Nair, CBI sources alleged, played an instrumental role in giving money to public servants in exchange of favours for the liquor barons. The CBI is probing the role of liquor barons Amit Arora, Dinesh Arora, Marwah, and Pandey for their involvement in the scam. The agency is looking into the waivers given to the liquor barons in exchange of monetary benefits and they were all part of a nexus. The violations caused losses of over Rs 140 crore to the State exchequer. It also allegedly refunded earnest money of Rs 30 crore to the lowest bidder of the licence of Airport Zone, despite failing to obtain no-objection certificate from the airport authorities. In a bid to ‘legalise’ the decisions the Government got Cabinet approval post facto as recently as on July 14, “which in itself was in violation of laid down rules and procedures”. When the scam came to light, Sisodia withdrew the new liquor policy and reverted to the older policy on July 29 which permitted only Government-owned shops to sell liquor. Talking about the scam, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, “Roots of the excise policy ‘scam’ lead to the doorstep of corrupt Kejriwal. No one is above law and no corrupt person will be spared.”
The BJP alleged that Kejriwal was the “kingpin” of the excise policy “scam” and said handcuffs are getting close to him as nodes of corruption are being unravelled. He said Kejriwal was busy indulging in corruption when Covid-affected people needed his help.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, who also addressed the press conference, said, “Delhi’s excise policy has proved to be a corrupt one. Arvind Kejriwal is the kingpin of this entire scam.”
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