Andhra liquor scam: Chargesheet alleges ex CM Jagan Mohan Reddy chaired liquor policy meeting in 2019

Amaravati: A chargesheet filed by the Andhra Pradesh police in connection with the alleged Rs 3,500-crore liquor scam in a court alleges former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy chaired a meeting held in July 2019 related to the new liquor policy under which the outlets would be run by the APSBCL, a government entity.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged liquor scam filed a 124-page supplementary chargesheet on Monday.

The previous chargesheet filed last month mentioned former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as one of the recipients of kickbacks averaging Rs 50-Rs 60 crore per month. The 305-page chargesheet, however, stopped short of naming Jagan as accused.

The supplementary chargesheet alleged that the kickbacks were systematically laundered through low-profile individuals, such as office boys or employees.

"During the discussions held in the meeting on 29.07.2019 chaired by Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, matters relating to number of shops, hiring of shop premises, shop infrastructure, manpower transportation chargers, etc., have been finalised," the police said quoting a letter written by then Managing Director, APSBCL (Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Ltd).

Then police also alleged that Jagan also played a key role in the appointment of D Vasudeva Reddy an IRTS officer and accused No. 2 in the case, as Managing Director of APSBCL despite him being recommended for other posts by then Chief Secretary and other officials.

When contacted, former minister and senior YSRCP leader Ambati Rambabu told PTI that all the allegations made in the chargesheets are baseless and “created” ones.

"During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the accused have systematically laundered the kickback amount with the help of low-profile individuals who were working as office boys or employees in the companies owned by the accused," officials said quoting the chargesheet.

"Such employees and individuals acted as couriers and mules for depositing illicit cash into a network of bank accounts linked to the syndicate," they added.

This pattern of cash layering and circulation demonstrates a deliberate attempt to conceal the origin of crime proceeds, constituting a classic case of structured money laundering and concealment under the garb of petty deposits, they further said.

A portion of the liquor kickbacks was transferred to the employees and associates of the accused as salary, they further said adding it was also observed that several of such low-profile individuals were made to send the cash deposited into their account to other accused.

Several illegalities in modifying the Excise Policy in the year 2019 have been found during the course of investigation.

The hiring of the consultancy firm KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. was intended to lend credibility to a flawed excise policy, the police said.

KPMG was nominated to provide consultancy services without calling for any tenders thereby violating the government business rules by the then MD, APSBCL.

The global consultancy firm suggested that OFS (order for supply) based auto-indenting process needs to be discontinued and all indents shall be manually raised based on the requirement, they alleged.

The SIT probing the alleged liquor scam arrested several people, including YSRCP Lok Sabha member PV Midhun Reddy, in the case.

In May, the Enforcement Directorate also filed a money laundering case to investigate the alleged liquor scam.

The federal probe agency has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe alleged irregularities in the sales of liquor in the state.