ED registers cash laundering case to probe alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise coverage
5 min readBy PTI
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has registered a cash laundering case to probe alleged irregularities within the Delhi Excise coverage allegedly involving Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others, official sources stated Tuesday.
The federal company has filed the case beneath the legal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that has named Sisodia and 14 others.
The CBI had carried out raids within the case final week on August 19 and had lined the Delhi residence of Sisodia, 50, that of IAS officer and former Delhi excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 different areas throughout seven states and Union Territories.
Sisodia holds a number of portfolios within the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi authorities together with that of excise and training.
The ED will probe if alleged irregularities have been finished within the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy introduced out in November final 12 months.
The scheme got here beneath the scanner after Delhi Lt Governor V Ok Saxena final month advisable a CBI probe into alleged irregularities within the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22.
He additionally suspended 11 excise officers within the matter.
Sisodia too demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities within the coverage.
The CBI inquiry was advisable on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary’s report filed in July exhibiting prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officers stated.
The ED, throughout its probe, will analyse if people and corporations who have been concerned within the policy-making of this scheme and associated entities generated any “proceeds of crime under the definition of PMLA” and if there was any attainable creation of unlawful or benami belongings, sources stated.
The company has powers to connect such belongings and query, arrest and prosecute those that indulge within the offence of cash laundering.
According to officers, the chief secretary’s report had proven prima facie violations, together with “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, to offer post-tender “undue benefits to liquor licensees” by means of the coverage.
It is alleged that undue monetary favours have been prolonged to liquor licensees after the tenders have been awarded, inflicting loss to the exchequer.
The excise division gave a waiver of Rs 144.36 crore to the licensees on the tendered licence charge on the excuse of COVID-19, sources claimed.
They added that it additionally refunded the earnest cash of Rs 30 crore to the bottom bidder for the licence of the airport zone when it did not get hold of a no-objection certificates (NOC) from airport authorities.
“It was in gross violation of rule 48(11)(b) of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2010, which clearly stipulates that the successful bidder must complete all formalities for the grant of the licence, failing which all deposits made by him shall stand forfeited to the government,” a supply stated.
The Excise Policy 2021-22, formulated on the premise of an professional committee report, was carried out on November 17 final 12 months and retail licences have been issued beneath it to personal bidders for 849 vends throughout town, divided into 32 zones.
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has registered a cash laundering case to probe alleged irregularities within the Delhi Excise coverage allegedly involving Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others, official sources stated Tuesday.
The federal company has filed the case beneath the legal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that has named Sisodia and 14 others.
The CBI had carried out raids within the case final week on August 19 and had lined the Delhi residence of Sisodia, 50, that of IAS officer and former Delhi excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 different areas throughout seven states and Union Territories.
Sisodia holds a number of portfolios within the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi authorities together with that of excise and training.
The ED will probe if alleged irregularities have been finished within the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy introduced out in November final 12 months.
The scheme got here beneath the scanner after Delhi Lt Governor V Ok Saxena final month advisable a CBI probe into alleged irregularities within the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22.
He additionally suspended 11 excise officers within the matter.
Sisodia too demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities within the coverage.
The CBI inquiry was advisable on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary’s report filed in July exhibiting prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officers stated.
The ED, throughout its probe, will analyse if people and corporations who have been concerned within the policy-making of this scheme and associated entities generated any “proceeds of crime under the definition of PMLA” and if there was any attainable creation of unlawful or benami belongings, sources stated.
The company has powers to connect such belongings and query, arrest and prosecute those that indulge within the offence of cash laundering.
According to officers, the chief secretary’s report had proven prima facie violations, together with “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, to offer post-tender “undue benefits to liquor licensees” by means of the coverage.
It is alleged that undue monetary favours have been prolonged to liquor licensees after the tenders have been awarded, inflicting loss to the exchequer.
The excise division gave a waiver of Rs 144.36 crore to the licensees on the tendered licence charge on the excuse of COVID-19, sources claimed.
They added that it additionally refunded the earnest cash of Rs 30 crore to the bottom bidder for the licence of the airport zone when it did not get hold of a no-objection certificates (NOC) from airport authorities.
“It was in gross violation of rule 48(11)(b) of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2010, which clearly stipulates that the successful bidder must complete all formalities for the grant of the licence, failing which all deposits made by him shall stand forfeited to the government,” a supply stated.
The Excise Policy 2021-22, formulated on the premise of an professional committee report, was carried out on November 17 final 12 months and retail licences have been issued beneath it to personal bidders for 849 vends throughout town, divided into 32 zones.
