Karnataka wine merchants’ body accuses excise minister of bribery, corruption

The Karnataka Wine Merchants’ Association has written to Raj Bhavan, the Chief Minister and the Lokayukta asking them to curb corruption by state excise minister and officials in the excise department.
According to an email, accessed by India Today, the association has alleged that the Excise minister and his office is 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.
In 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”, it states that Rs 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.
The Wine Merchants’ Association has alleged that CL7 bar licences 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 licences were given by the excise minister, amounting to Rs 300-700 crore in corruption, the letter has claimed.
A CL-7 liquor licence is issued for hotels and boarding houses in Karnataka. Annual CL7 bar licence 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 CM (Siddaramaiah) to keep a check on corruption and reduce the CL7 licence. One licence is charged at Rs 30-75 lakh as bribery. 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 1,000 licences were given after taking money,” Wine Merchants’ Association president S Guruswamy said, directly blaming Excise Minister RB Thimmapur.