Three months ago, a daring scam in the Excise Department rocked the entire State. Several liquor license holders in the northern coastal belt, particularly Pernem were cheated, issued fake renewed licenses and they continued their operations until the head office slapped them with a ‘default notice.’
The alleged mastermind behind this audacious operation was an Upper Division Clerk (UDC), leaving numerous businesses reeling. The large-scale illegality has been carried out unhindered since 2017.
If not only cheating the license holders, a few unscrupulous excise officials also tarnished the reputation of the revenue-generating department.
The Goan’s exposé brought this scam to light on June 22, prompting the intervention of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. In just three days, the department managed to recover a whopping Rs 27 lakh from UDC Harish Naik.
This was followed by Naik’s suspension besides that of Inspectors Vibhuti Shetye and Durgesh Naik, who allegedly connived with him.
Three months down the line, little progress has been made in this case. The inquiry report, which was submitted to the Vigilance/Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) is yet to see the light of day.
The authorities are surprisingly dragging their feet over the inquiry with no FIR registered, despite the government acknowledging the severity of the fraud.
“We conducted an inquiry based on which the suspensions were ordered pending. This report was subsequently sent to the ACB for further action,” an excise officer told The Goan, indicating the department has no further role to play subject to the outcome of the ACB probe.
The only development is that the victim license holders have been re-issued licenses, this time genuine, and the amount has been adjusted given that part recovery is already made.
The department, which has now got a new Commissioner, is however silent over the exact fraud amount even as it is estimated around Rs 2 crore. Sources revealed that each license holder paid around Rs 1 lakh towards the new license and Rs 50,000 for the renewal of two ‘seasonal licenses’ in Pernem taluka alone.
“The license holders’ receipts and licenses submitted to Gad were found to be fake. The UDC allegedly carried out the operation by convincing these license holders to pay him the fees, promising to deposit the amounts in the bank and update the office system accordingly. The bank receipts, bearing its rubber stamp, along with the license copies featuring the Inspector’s signature and office stamp, were provided to the license holders. But these were found to be fake. All this amounts to a cognisable offense but nothing has been done so far,” an official lamented.
The authorities are also tight-lipped to yet another set of allegations, wherein records about five talukas indicated that license renewals were not carried out for over six financial years.
The heavily populated tourist belt of Bardez was among those five where more than 1,000 liquor licenses were not renewed between the financial years 2014-15 to 2019-20, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report 2020.
This indicated a shortfall of a whopping Rs 7.59 crore across these five talukas - Tiswadi, Bardez, Ponda, Salcete, and Mormugao.
