Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed the details around "unprecedented" corruption in the liquor sales in Chhattisgarh, where money was collected on "every bottle" of liquor sold in the state. The central agency informed the amount of money laundering was up to the tune of ₹2,000 crores generated by an alcohol syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar.
ED arrested Anwar Dhebar on Saturday under the charges of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was picked up from a hotel in Raipur while he was trying “to run from the back door.” A special PMLA court sent him to a 4-day ED remand, even as his lawyer claimed that the arrest is "politically motivated" and said he will move to Supreme Court.
"Investigation found that an organized crime syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar was operating in Chhattisgarh. Anwar Dhebar, though a private citizen, was backed by and was working for the illegal gratification of high-level political executives and senior bureaucrats. He weaved an elaborate conspiracy and stitched a wide network of persons/entities to execute the scam so that money was illegally collected from every bottle of liquor sold in Chhattisgarh," the ED alleged.
The arrest of Anwar Dhebar came after the central agency raided 35 locations in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Delhi, including his residential premises. ED said that the raids led to a collection of "evidence of unprecedented corruption and money laundering to the tune of ₹2,000 crore between 2019-2022".
ED said that Anwar Dhebar was responsible for the collection of entire illegal money, but was not the only beneficiary of the scam. "It is established that after deducting a percentage, he had passed on the remaining amounts to his political masters," it claimed.
"Excise departments are mandated to regulate the supply of liquor, ensure quality liquor to users to prevent hooch tragedies, and earn revenue for the State. But investigation revealed that the criminal syndicate led by Anwar Dhebar has turned upside down all these objectives," the agency alleged.
Chhattisgarh controls "all aspects" of the liquor trade from procurement to retail sales and no private player is allowed in the state. "No private liquor shops are allowed. All 800 liquor shops are run by the state and the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) centrally procures all the liquor," the ED said.
"With the support of the political executives, Anwar Dhebar managed to get a pliant Commissioner and MD of CSMCL and hired close associates like Vikas Agarwal alias Subbu and Arvind Singh to make the system completely subservient to him.
"He controlled the entire chain of the liquor trade starting from private distillers, FL-10A license holders, senior officers of the excise department, district-level excise officers, manpower suppliers, glass bottle makers, hologram makers, cash collection vendors, etc., and leveraged it to extort maximum amount of bribes/commission," it said.
The agency said the alleged liquor syndicate working in the state under Anwar Dhebar charged a "commission of ₹75-150 per case (depending on the type of liquor) which was fastidiously charged from the suppliers for each accounted cash procured by the CSMCL".
"Anwar Dhebar, in conspiracy with others, started getting manufactured unaccounted country-made liquor and selling the same through government-run shops. This way they could keep the entire sale proceeds without depositing even Re 1 in the state exchequer," the ED claimed.
The probe found that between 2019 and 2022, this kind of "illegal sale was almost 30-40 percent of the total sale of the liquor in the state and this act generated ₹1,200-1,500 crore of illegal profits".
This was an annual commission that was paid by the main distillers for getting a distillery license and a fixed share in the market purchase of the CSMCL, the ED said.
The distillers "used to pay bribes as per the percentage of market share allotted to them. Procurement was done strictly in this ratio by the CSMCL", the agency claimed.
(With agency inputs)
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