Raipur: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 13 attached properties of jailed Congress MLA and former minister of Chhattisgarh government Kawasi Lakhma in connection with the multi-crore alleged liquor scam worth around Rs 2100 crore.
According to inputs, the agency on Friday attached properties of Kawasi Lakhma and son Harish Lakhma worth around 5.5 crore. ED has also attached the Congress Bhavan building of Sukma district. The said premise was reportedly built by Lakhma with an cost of over 60 lakhs.
According to agency, the money used in erecting the said infrastructure was reportedly arrived from the proceed of crime generated under the multi-crore scam which flourished in the state from 2019 to 2022.
The development has attracted critical response from the leaders of the state unit of the Congress party who have trained guns on the agency over the attachment of Congress Bhavan in Sukma.
Arrest of former excise minister and Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma
ED arrested senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh excise minister, Kawasi Lakhma in connection with Rs 2100 crore liquor scam in January this year.
Lakhma, a sitting MLA of the Congress party was taken into custody after he appeared before the agency’s zonal office at Raipur. Following his arrest, ED claimed that the Congress MLA was receiving a hefty sum of money on a monthly basis out of the proceeds of crime generated under Rs 2100 alleged liquor scam.
According to ED, Lakhma was paid Rs 2 crore on a monthly basis, which includes two separate payments of Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 1.5 crore.
“Two people Arun Pati Tripathi and Arvind Singh had given statements against him (Lakhma). Singh had disclosed that the liquor cartel used to pay Rs 50 lakhs monthly to Lakhma while Tripathi had informed about an additional payment of Rs 1.5 crore (monthly) to the former minister, said ED’s counsel.
As per the agency, Kawasi Lakhma was one of the main recipients of proceeds of crime in cash during his regime as excise minister in the previous Congress government of the state.
ED investigation into the matter
ED started its investigation into the case and claimed to unearth a multi-crore liquor scam, which ran in the state between 2019 and 2022. The agency’s investigation into the matter revealed that proceeds of crime were generated as illegal commissions, which were generated in multiple ways.
The agency said that bribes were collected from the distillers per ‘case’ of liquor procured from them by the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL), a state body for the purchase and sale of liquor.
Sale of unaccounted “kacha off-the-books” country liquor was another way to generate illegal money, claimed the agency, adding “In this case, not even a single rupee reached the State Exchequer, and all the sale proceeds were pocketed by the syndicate. The illegal liquor was sold from state-run shops only”.
“Bribes are taken from distillers to allow them to make a cartel and have fixed market share, and holders who were introduced to earn in foreign liquor segment also,” said the ED.
Based on ED’s finding, Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Chhattisgarh registered a case into the matter naming 70 people including of businessmen, leaders of the Congress party, and a few state officials in January 2024. The case is being investigated by the agencies.
