<p>Chennai: Chennai: Tamil Nadu Electricity and Excise Minister V Senthil Balaji on Friday rejected allegations of a liquor scam to the tune of Rs 1,000 crores by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), claiming it to be a “desperate action” of the Union Government which isn’t able to take on Chief Minister M K Stalin politically on the issues of language and delimitation.</p><p>Balaji, who is out on bail in a money laundering case filed by the ED, also said the state government was contemplating to move the judiciary against the agency for its “overreach.” The state government had last year secured a stay against the ED’s action to probe five district collectors in the illegal sand mining case from the Madras High Court, which ruled the ED had no jurisdiction to issue summons to the collector but said there was no bar on its probe. </p><p>“It is a generalised allegation. TASMAC, the state-owned company, functions in a transparent manner as the government acts in accordance with laid-out procedure. There is no scope for irregularities as the tender processes are transparent and no concession is shown to anyone in procurement,” the minister said. </p>.Tamil Nadu: ED raids in fresh case against Senthil Balaji, others linked to TASMAC. <p>Balaji alleged that the ED’s statement released on Thursday night was a “mischievous” attempt to overshadow the state budget. “One leader said a few days ago that the TASMAC scam was to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore and the ED has merely repeated the figure mentioned by him. Who does the ED work for?” he said, without naming Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai.</p><p>ED on Thursday said it has unearthed documents to show that distilleries have siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore in unaccounted cash which they used as kickbacks to secure “increased supply orders” from the state-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Company Limited (TASMAC), which has a monopoly over liquor sales. </p><p>The agency had last week conducted raids at the TASMAC headquarters in the city, and at the offices of its suppliers like SNJ, Kals, Accord, SAIFL, and Shiva Distillery along with bottling entities such as Devi Bottles, Crystal Bottles, and GLR Holding. </p><p>It said a well-orchestrated scheme of unaccounted cash generation and illicit payments has been uncovered with proof revealing that distilleries systematically inflated expenses and fabricated bogus purchases, particularly through bottle-making companies, to siphon off over Rs. 1,000 Crore in unaccounted cash. </p><p>“These funds were then used for kickbacks to secure increased supply orders from TASMAC. Bottling companies played a critical role in this fraudulent scheme by inflating sales figures, allowing distilleries to route excess payments, which were later withdrawn in cash and returned after deducting commissions,” the statement had added. </p>
<p>Chennai: Chennai: Tamil Nadu Electricity and Excise Minister V Senthil Balaji on Friday rejected allegations of a liquor scam to the tune of Rs 1,000 crores by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), claiming it to be a “desperate action” of the Union Government which isn’t able to take on Chief Minister M K Stalin politically on the issues of language and delimitation.</p><p>Balaji, who is out on bail in a money laundering case filed by the ED, also said the state government was contemplating to move the judiciary against the agency for its “overreach.” The state government had last year secured a stay against the ED’s action to probe five district collectors in the illegal sand mining case from the Madras High Court, which ruled the ED had no jurisdiction to issue summons to the collector but said there was no bar on its probe. </p><p>“It is a generalised allegation. TASMAC, the state-owned company, functions in a transparent manner as the government acts in accordance with laid-out procedure. There is no scope for irregularities as the tender processes are transparent and no concession is shown to anyone in procurement,” the minister said. </p>.Tamil Nadu: ED raids in fresh case against Senthil Balaji, others linked to TASMAC. <p>Balaji alleged that the ED’s statement released on Thursday night was a “mischievous” attempt to overshadow the state budget. “One leader said a few days ago that the TASMAC scam was to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore and the ED has merely repeated the figure mentioned by him. Who does the ED work for?” he said, without naming Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai.</p><p>ED on Thursday said it has unearthed documents to show that distilleries have siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore in unaccounted cash which they used as kickbacks to secure “increased supply orders” from the state-run Tamil Nadu State Marketing Company Limited (TASMAC), which has a monopoly over liquor sales. </p><p>The agency had last week conducted raids at the TASMAC headquarters in the city, and at the offices of its suppliers like SNJ, Kals, Accord, SAIFL, and Shiva Distillery along with bottling entities such as Devi Bottles, Crystal Bottles, and GLR Holding. </p><p>It said a well-orchestrated scheme of unaccounted cash generation and illicit payments has been uncovered with proof revealing that distilleries systematically inflated expenses and fabricated bogus purchases, particularly through bottle-making companies, to siphon off over Rs. 1,000 Crore in unaccounted cash. </p><p>“These funds were then used for kickbacks to secure increased supply orders from TASMAC. Bottling companies played a critical role in this fraudulent scheme by inflating sales figures, allowing distilleries to route excess payments, which were later withdrawn in cash and returned after deducting commissions,” the statement had added. </p>