Chennai:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday morning conducted fresh raids at various premises across Tamil Nadu in connection with the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited-linked money laundering case. TASMAC is a state government body that has a monopoly over the liquor trade in the state.
Officials said 10 premises were raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED conducted the first set of raids in March and said it found “multiple irregularities” in the operations of TASMAC, including “manipulation” in the tender processes and “unaccounted” cash transactions worth Rs 1,000 crore through distillery companies.
In a statement, the probe agency said it got “evidence” suggesting these corrupt practices after it raided the employees, corporate offices of distilleries and plants of the TASMAC.
It said it found “incriminating” data related to transfer postings, transport and bar licence tenders, indent orders “favouring” a few distillery companies, excess charge of Rs 10-30 per bottle by TASMAC outlets, with the “involvement” of TASMAC officials, during the searches.
The ED said this data shows “manipulation” in TASMAC’s transport tender allocations, where a “glaring” issue was the “mismatch” between the KYC details of the applicant and the demand draft (DD), suggesting that the final successful bidder did not even obtain the requisite DD before the application deadline.
Tenders were awarded despite having only a single applicant in the final bid. TASMAC paid over Rs 100 crore annually to transporters, the ED claimed.