Kerala Bar Hotels' Association (KBHA) working president Biju Ramesh’s sworn statement in court accusing Excise Minister K. Babu of graft will pave the way for a quick verification inquiry against him, according to senior Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) investigators.
The hotelier’s deposition made voluntarily and in private in court, was leaked to the media on Wednesday, triggering frantic news bulletins and newsroom discussions that did not seem to augur well for the government’s public image.
The accusation central to Mr. Biju’s statement was that the association had paid Rs.10 crore to Mr. Babu to roll back the proposal to hike the annual bar licence renewal fee from Rs.23 lakhs to Rs.30 lakh. The hotelier had told the magistrate, who recorded his statement in camera, that the Minister had demanded the bribe in his chamber and in the presence of other association office-bearers. Subsequently, the association paid the money to certain persons, including a bar hotelier, named by the Minister, Mr. Biju alleged.
The central theme of his statement revolved around the contentious allegation that bar hoteliers had to grease the palm of at least two Ministers in the current government to keep their liquor retail permits valid.
His allegations also detailed how the association had raised the money to meet the Rs.1-crore allegedly demanded as bribe by Finance Minister K.M. Mani to influence the government policy to the advantage of hoteliers whose bars were closed on the ground that they were substandard.
The statement dwelled mostly on how, when, and where the bribes were paid. The VACB would have no choice but to grapple with the problem of whether or not too initiate a quick verification inquiry against Mr. Babu on the basis of Mr. Biju’s deposition. It was yet to receive the statement. Action, if any, would be after seeking legal opinion and post Aruvikkara Assembly by-poll.
