Recent searches
conducted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths on the liquor syndicates
in the state have brought to light the deep nexus between unscrupulous
businessmen and excise department officials with ACB officials finding
that many excise officials were extending loans running into lakhs of
rupees to liquor syndicates.
The searches were
conducted in 22 places in Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Prakasam,
Nellore, Warangal and Hyderabad for two days from January 27 and
relevant records were seized for further investigation, the ACB said in a
release on Sunday.The ACB had registered criminal cases against
the eleven syndicate leaders on January 25 based on scrutiny reports on
the data gathered from searches that took place in December 2011.“The
scrutiny reports running into about 750 pages contain hundreds of
entries relating to payment of bribes to different persons,” the release
said adding, “Many officials of the Excise department were totally
involved in arranging finance for liquor syndicates in addition to
accepting bribes on a recurrent basis from the traders.” The documents
recovered during searches revealed that in one instance some excise
officials in their personal capacity had given a loan to the tune of
Rs2.44 crore to just one leader of the syndicate during 2011.One head constable alone was learnt to have given Rs53 lakh loan.This
is also the first time liquor traders have been arrested on corruption
charges on the ground that one who bribes officials is equally
punishable. The 11 liquor traders and eight excise officials arrested
were remanded to judicial custody.
By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com
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