New liquor policy resulted in Rs 2,026 crore loss to AAP govt: CAG

The AAP government headed by Arvind Kejriwal threw rules and regulations to the wind while drafting the controversial excise policy that inflicted a loss of over Rs 2,026 crore on the exchequer, indicate parts of a CAG report that reached public domain on Saturday.

The explosive findings of the ‘leaked’ CAG report come ahead of the February 5 Assembly elections in Delhi and expose the gross violations, like lack of transparency in pricing, violation in issue and renewal of licences, non-penalisation of violators, non-seeking of approval from the LG, Cabinet or the Assembly.

The exchequer lost around Rs 890 crore as the AAP government did not re-tender the surrendered retail liquor licences, the CAG report noted.

The government lost an additional Rs 941 crore due to the exemptions that had to be given to the zonal licensees, the report said.

The group of ministers, headed by Minister Manish Sisodia, allegedly did not act on the recommendation of the expert panel and even allowed disqualified entities to bid for licences.

The CAG report, which the AAP has denied is genuine, claimed there were issues in implementation of the excise policy.

The report said that some retailers retained their licences till the expiry of the policy period, some surrendered them before the policy period was over.

The findings on alleged wrongdoings due to which Kejriwal and Sisodia faced money laundering and corruption cases are sure to raise the political temperature in Delhi where the AAP is trying to come back to power for a fourth time.

The elections for the 70 Assembly seats will be held on February 5 and the results will be declared on February 8. In the current House, the AAP has 62 legislators and the BJP has 8.