NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said the key accused in the Delhi excise policy scam, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks worth at least Rs 100 crore from what it called the ‘South Group’ “controlled by Sarath Reddy, K Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy”. The kickbacks were received by Nair on behalf of Aam Aadmi Party leaders, some of whom are in government, the agency alleged.
This is the first time Kavitha’s name is being mentioned on record by the probe agency. A member of the legislative council in Telangana, she is the daughter of TRS founder and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
In an application filed in a local court seeking remand for businessman Amit Arora, arrested on Tuesday, the ED said: “PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) investigations revealed that the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was a device created by the leaders of AAP, some of whom are part of the Delhi government, to generate illegal funds at the cost of the state exchequer.
The policy was formulated with deliberate loopholes, inbuilt mechanisms to facilitate illegal activities… it promoted cartel formation through back door, awarded exorbitant wholesale (12%) and high retail (185%) profit margins and incentivised other illegal activities…”
The ED said: “The 12% profit margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it as a kickback to the AAP leaders. As per the investigation carried so far, Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of `100 crore from a group called South Group... The same has been disclosed by the arrestee, Amit Arora.”
The agency said, “in order to facilitate kickbacks, Amit Arora in conspiracy with others played a key role in arm-twisting wholesalers in Delhi business and getting their L1 licences surrendered. The same business was then directed to such wholesalers in connivance with Amit Arora who were agreeable to pay the 6% commission to AAP leaders/Vijay Nair.”
The ED remand application for Amit Arora said, “He has been instrumental in connecting the cartels of manufacturer/wholesaler/ retailer to the political leadership and facilitating 6% kickbacks by working closely with Dinesh Arora and Vijay Nair who were working on behalf of AAP leaders.”
The agency said, “Vijay Nair is not an ordinary worker of AAP but a close associate of Arvind Kejriwal, the CM of Delhi. Vijay Nair, as per his statement under Section 50 of PMLA, 2002, functions from the camp office of Arvind Kejriwal, CM, Delhi. Further, Vijay Nair, since 2020, has been residing in a government bungalow allotted to a Cabinet minister of Delhi government, Kailash Gehlot, part of the GOM of Excise Policy 2021-22...”
Suspects destroyed 170 digital devices
The ED said dozens of accused/suspects destroyed 170 digital devices to hide evidence in the liquor scam, which ran into “thousands of crores”. The agency has so far recovered 17 of them and is working on recovering more devices. Amit Arora has been sent for seven days of custodial interrogation by the ED