Changed excise policy to make wrongful gains worth Rs 3,200 crore
Kasireddy Rajasekhar Reddy (File Photo)
Vijayawada: The main accused in the multi-crore liquor scam, Kasireddy Rajasekhar Reddy, has confessed that former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy allowed him to chalk out an excise policy to get more revenue for the state, in order to use the money for welfare measures and for the party fund.
In the interrogations by state CID’s special investigation team while under its custody, he said that a government order was issued for this purpose, authorising the state beverages corporation to set up government retail outlets.
“An excise policy for 2019-2020 was formulated with IRTS officer Vasudeva Reddy posted as managing director of APSBCL and as commissioner of beverages and distilleries so that they could have total control over distilleries, label registrations and so on, apart from purchase and sales.”
“As per the remand report of the SIT, Kasireddy, former MP Vijay Sai Reddy, MP Mithun Reddy, Vasudeva Reddy and Satya Prasad met at the residence of Vijay Sai Reddy on October 13, 2019. They estimated that there could be a possibility of getting around Rs 50cr to Rs 60cr per month as kickbacks if their plan was implemented,” Kasireddy said.
Thereafter, the end-to-end automation of C-Tel software was dispensed with and issuing of manual order of supply was introduced.
In December, 2019, Kasireddy, Mithun Reddy, Vasudeva Reddy, Sajjala Sridhar Reddy and Satya Prasad met in Hyderabad and fixed the kickback rates depending upon the basic price. From then on, Kasireddy used to instruct some people to collect kickbacks from the distillers/suppliers as per rate fixed.”
He used to prepare an indent plan, based on the kickbacks received, and provided it to Satya Prasad to raise the same through liquor depot managers. In cases where no kickbacks were received, no indents were allowed to be raised for such brands of liquor, Kasireddy told the investigators.
“On an average, they used to get Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore per month as kickbacks. Kasireddy used to hand over the money to Balaji and then to OSD Krihna Mohan Reddy,” Kasireddy said.
The SIT sought an ACB court order for the custody of Kasireddy for further interrogation.
The remand report said the accused/individuals in the case used their power and influence in the system for personal gain and caused loss to some companies and to the government and wrongful gains to the liquor syndicate, resulting in a collection of around Rs 3,200 crore through illegal acts.
It said the lopsided procedure in discount policy resulted in a loss to the state exchequer worth Rs 200 crore.
The money gained thus helped the accused to set up shell companies and get involved in Hawala transactions. The accused even resorted to transfer of funds to gold/bullion accounts, as also to real estate and other business entities and even to dubious accounts, the report said.
“An excise policy for 2019-2020 was formulated with IRTS officer Vasudeva Reddy posted as managing director of APSBCL and as commissioner of beverages and distilleries so that they could have total control over distilleries, label registrations and so on, apart from purchase and sales.”
“As per the remand report of the SIT, Kasireddy, former MP Vijay Sai Reddy, MP Mithun Reddy, Vasudeva Reddy and Satya Prasad met at the residence of Vijay Sai Reddy on October 13, 2019. They estimated that there could be a possibility of getting around Rs 50cr to Rs 60cr per month as kickbacks if their plan was implemented,” Kasireddy said.
Thereafter, the end-to-end automation of C-Tel software was dispensed with and issuing of manual order of supply was introduced.
In December, 2019, Kasireddy, Mithun Reddy, Vasudeva Reddy, Sajjala Sridhar Reddy and Satya Prasad met in Hyderabad and fixed the kickback rates depending upon the basic price. From then on, Kasireddy used to instruct some people to collect kickbacks from the distillers/suppliers as per rate fixed.”
He used to prepare an indent plan, based on the kickbacks received, and provided it to Satya Prasad to raise the same through liquor depot managers. In cases where no kickbacks were received, no indents were allowed to be raised for such brands of liquor, Kasireddy told the investigators.
“On an average, they used to get Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore per month as kickbacks. Kasireddy used to hand over the money to Balaji and then to OSD Krihna Mohan Reddy,” Kasireddy said.
The SIT sought an ACB court order for the custody of Kasireddy for further interrogation.
The remand report said the accused/individuals in the case used their power and influence in the system for personal gain and caused loss to some companies and to the government and wrongful gains to the liquor syndicate, resulting in a collection of around Rs 3,200 crore through illegal acts.
It said the lopsided procedure in discount policy resulted in a loss to the state exchequer worth Rs 200 crore.
The money gained thus helped the accused to set up shell companies and get involved in Hawala transactions. The accused even resorted to transfer of funds to gold/bullion accounts, as also to real estate and other business entities and even to dubious accounts, the report said.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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