According to an email, accessed by India Today, the association has alleged that the Excise minister and his office are involved in blatant misconduct and extortion. In the letter, it was stated that the minister, RB Thimmapur, takes bribes to approve transfers of department officials, while the officials openly take money from liquor outlets.

Mr. Thimmapur has denied these allegations saying they are politically motivated.

The letter with the subject line “Huge Bribe and money laundering took place in excise minister office Bangalore in transferring excise officers and to control illegal collection of money for election purpose from excise official”, states that Rs. 160 million (16 crore) was taken from senior officials for their transfers. The senior officials include three deputy commissioners, nine superintendents, 13 deputy superintendents of excise and 20 excise inspectors. This money for transfer practice has been going on in the department for the past two to three years, the letter claimed.

For clarification for our international subscribers, Lokayukta is an anti-corruption authority that investigates and addresses complaints against public servants. Offices of Lokayukta offices are independent bodies that work to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in public administration.

The Wine Merchants’ Association has alleged that CL7 bar licenses were given at a bribe amount of anywhere between Rs 30-70 lakh by the minister, which is in violation of law. In the last one year, 1,000 illegal licenses were given by the excise minister, amounting to Rs 300-700 crore in corruption, the letter has claimed.

A CL-7 liquor license is issued for hotels and boarding houses in Karnataka. Annual CL7 bar license fees range from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 8.5 lakh, varying by location, with the highest fees for those within city corporation limits.

“We have written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to keep a check on corruption and reduce the CL7 license fee. One license is charged at Rs 30-75 lakh as bribe. It runs in thousands of crores. Officials directly tell us we have paid the minister and come to this post. In the last one year about a thousand licenses were given after taking the bribe,” Wine Merchants’ Association president S Guruswamy said, directly blaming Excise Minister RB Thimmapur.

The Association has called for excise minister RB Thimmapur to be replaced and has set a deadline of Nov 20 for chief minister Siddaramaiah to act on their demand. The minister has reportedly denied the charges. “If the chief minister does not give in to our demand and end corruption, we will shut all liquor shops on Nov 20 in protest,” said S Guruswamy, president of the association. “We will also petition the governor and CBI,” reports TOI

Meanwhile, BJP further fanned allegations, with opposition leader R Ashoka on Wednesday demanding a CBI investigation into what he claimed was a “Rs 900 crore corruption scam”. Ashoka also called for Timmapur’s resignation, claiming the minister collected “Rs 18 crore weekly”, accumulating an annual total of Rs 900 crore.

“The association has provided detailed accounts of bribes taken by officials at all levels and this money was systematically shared,” Ashoka said. “Details of rates fixed for different posts are also included.” Ashoka criticized Siddaramaiah for his silence on the issue and wondered how the CM could penalize the minister since he himself was facing similar allegations, mentions the news report.

It is an open secret that the Indian excise authorities in general are very corrupt. If the cases quoted by various officers of the excise department are properly addressed. One would need volumes to cover them. The corruption is on the increase uniformly but the stakeholders like importers/distributors are wary of lending their names because they know if their names are known , the least it would mean is closure of the business though more likely they are fearful of the reprisals that would include the trumped up charges with jail and prosecution.

According to Deccan Herald The association had raised these demands on various occasions, including in a February 21 meeting with the excise minister and a protest meeting the following day but with no repose. A massive protest was also organised on October 25 but with no effect and hence the new deadline of November 20.

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com

S. Guruswamy, president of the association, says, “Any new DC, superintendent or deputy superintendent who is posted in our region tells us he has given a hefty bribe of Rs 2 crore to the minister for the plum posting. The excise officials ask us for assistance to make up for the money lost as a bribe. If we don’t pay the bribe, we are harassed by officials who inspect our stocks and license and raise issues, slap cases and impose a penalty of Rs 50,000. The monthly ‘hafta’ is fixed for each shop (around Rs 8,000 per shop) and takes Rs 1 lakh for every renewal, and shifting (relocation) of the shop could cost anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Even the request for a name change (of the licensee) would leave you poorer by Rs 5 lakh. The transfer of license to a family member following the licensee’s demise also costs huge money.

He laments that wine merchants cannot survive if the corruption was not plugged immediately as most of them had debts of around Rs 3-4 crore.

Various other regional Associations are generally wary of taking up the matter of corruption with the government, with the result that cost of alcoholic products works out much higher than shown in the cost card etc. and most stakeholders find it difficult to make decent profits unless they are able to delve unto underhanded techniques like selling date-expired or spurious products.

delWine salutes the Association for bringing it to the attention of the CM. One hopes some corrective action soon and that the other state bodies will get together and raise a hue and cry against the massive corruption. Our sources salute the action taken by the Associations and hope the Association in the North India will join the wagon too but refuse to be named as individuals though they are willing to share dozens of similar stories on the same lines.

Compiled by

Subhash Arora