Bar Bribery Row: Kerala Excise Minister MB Rajesh Orders Detailed Probe

The minister’s letter comes in the wake of an audio clip from an office bearer of the Federation of Kerala Hotel Association, in which he is heard speaking about collecting Rs 2.5 lakh from each bar owner for a favourable liquor policy by the government. The leakage of the audio clip sparked a major controversy with the opposition Congress accusing the ruling CPM-led LDF Government of taking bribes from the bar owners to formulate the new liquor policy.

The minister said he had heard the revelation that there was a move to collect a total bribe of Rs 25 crore from bar owners in the state in the name of the new liquor policy. “Our government is taking the audio clip very seriously. Even the initial discussions on the liquor policy have not been completed. Let the investigators find out whether there is a conspiracy behind the entire episode. Many will be upset with the strict measures that are being planned by the government,” he said.

The minister said that the assembly session is scheduled to begin soon and the government would deal with the opposition charges there.

The minister stated that the government or the excise department has not initiated any discussion on the excise policy yet. The discussions on the liquor policy have been put on hold due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, the president of the Federation of Kerala Hotels Association, V Sunil Kumar, denied allegations of fund collections to bribe the government and stated that Animon, the president of the Idukki district chapter of the Federation of Kerala Hotel Association, whose audio clip came out, has been placed under suspension. He suspected that the voice message was part of a larger conspiracy and clarified that the funds collected were for the association's headquarters building.

According to him, of the R 6.5 crore rupees required for the building, the association has collected 4.5 crore rupees. Animon and a couple of other members from the Idukki branch were opposed to the purchase of a new building, he said.

Animon was heard demanding 2.5 lakh rupees from each individual in the voice clip. The transcripts of the WhatsApp chats sent by Animon to bar owners indicated that he had conveyed the message for fund collection on behalf of the organization's team president.

The issue has come up in the wake of reports that the state government was in the process of formulating a new liquor policy that would address the demands of bar owners, including scrapping the dry days and extending the hours of bar operations.

The Congress criticized the LDF government on the issue, with PCC president K Sudhakaran accusing the government of formulating a liquor policy after collecting 25 crore rupees as bribe from bar owners. Sudhakaran also alleged that the government was collecting 2.5 lakh rupees each from 900 bar owners and that the money had already been collected before the elections.

He claimed that the government is contemplating extending the timings of the bars and opening pubs in IT hubs, which will benefit the bar owners.

Sudhakaran reminded the LDF of the violent agitation that they organised against the UDF Government when bar owners claimed that they had paid 1 crore as a bribe to the then finance minister K M Mani. The incident led to the resignation of the minister.