KOCHI: Former excise minister K. Babu has denied the allegations of corruption and misuse of official position during his tenure as minister in the UDF cabinet as mentioned in the Quick Verification Report (QVR) submitted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in connection with the bar bribery case. He told reporters here on Saturday that the QVR was a pre-determined script.
Denying the charges, Mr. Babu said he had not taken any decision personally during his tenure as the minister. “All decisions were taken after discussions in the cabinet,” he said. He had only implemented the abkari policy of the UDF government. “There was no deviation from the UDF policy,” he added. He also refuted the VACB charges that he had usurped the powers of the excise commissioner.
The QVR submitted by the VACB in Muvattupuzha Vigilance court the other day has raised a series of charges against the minister involving corruption to the tune of Rs 100 crore. The VACB report stated the minister adopted different yardsticks for allocation of bar, beer and wine parlour licences with the intention of indulging in corruption.
He also tampered with the list prepared by the excise commissioner in this regard, it said. Another major charge against the minister is that he deviated from the abkari policy of the government by issuing two different orders in a short span of three months.
