TN distilleries, bottle-making cos siphoned off Rs 1,000 crore in Tasmac scam: ED
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it had unearthed a black money racket to the tune of over Rs 1,000 crore involving private distilleries, bottling firms and officials of the state-owned liquor corporation, Tasmac, in Tamil Nadu.
During search operations at various premises across several districts in Tamil Nadu on March 6, the ED said it found “large-scale” corruption at Tasmac offices.
The probe agency found incriminating data related to transfer postings, transport tenders, bar licence tenders, indent orders favouring a few distillery companies, and an excess charge of Rs 10-30 per bottle by the Tasmac outlets involving officials at Tasmac offices.
It identified three primary issues – Tasmac shops were collecting excess amount than the actual MRP, distillery companies offering kickbacks to the officials of Tasmac for supply orders and senior officials of Tasmac indulging in the collection of bribes from the Retail Tasmac shops and for the transfer and posting of Tasmac staff.
ED investigation found evidence of manipulation in Tasmac’s transport tender allocations. A glaring issue was the mismatch between the KYC details of the applicant and the Demand Draft (DD), suggesting that the final successful bidder did not even obtain the requisite DD before the application deadline.
Additionally, tenders were awarded despite having only a single applicant in the final bid and Tasmac paid over Rs 100 crore annually to transporters, according to the agency.
In the allocation of bar licence tenders by Tasmac, evidence related to the manipulation of tender conditions was found. One such glaring issue was that the applicants without any GST/PAN numbers and without any proper KYC documentation were allotted the final tenders.
Evidence reveal direct communication between distillery companies and higher Tasmac officials, exposing efforts to secure increased indent orders and undue favours, the ED said.