KOCHI: The Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Wednesday recorded the statement of V M Radhakrishnan, the bar hotel owner as part of investigations into the Bar Bribery case against former Excise Minister K Babu.
According to VACB officials, Radhakrishnan provided documents claiming that various district committees of Kerala Bar Hotels Association (KBHA) had carried out fundraising to give money to Babu.
The documents given to VACB stated that Rs 40 lakhs were collected from 20 bar owners under KBHA Kozhikode district. The documents also showed that similar fundraising took place in all district committees of KBHA and claimed that the contribution of each member in the legal cell of KBHA increased from Rs 500 earlier to Rs 1 lakh in 2012. In 2014, Rs 2 lakh each was collected from bar hotel owners across the state, through which, Rs 14 crore was collected.
Similarly, account details of KBHA state committee had been handed over to VACB on Monday using which, investigators recovered details of money transfer of last five years.
VACB had registered a case against K Babu on allegation on Bar bribery incident in July this year.