The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy on Thursday said that he doesn't have any role in the Delhi liquor scam.
"I have nothing to do with the liquor scam. This is a conspiracy by north Indians," he said.
The YSRCP leader was responding to reports that his name was mentioned in the remand report of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam and claimed that he does not know how his name is included in the probe.
"I'm not even familiar with the businessman Amit Arora who has been arrested in connection to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam money laundering case," he said.
Reddy said that he will respond on this matter after examining this ED report. "I will hold a press meet soon and give an answer to the allegations," Reddy told reporters.
Arora's name is mentioned in both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation cases as accused along with Dinesh Arora, another director of Buddy Retail Pvt Ltd. Other accused named are Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari, and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director of Brindco Sales; authorized signatories of Mahadev Liquors, Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, and Arjun Pandey are some more accused in the case.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi chief secretary's report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials had said.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
An alleged, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fee was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19.
This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
( With inputs from ANI )
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