The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has given a clean chit to former Excise Minister K. Babu in the alleged bar bribery scam.
Mr. Babu had resigned from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) ministry on January 23, 2016, after a vigilance court in Thrissur asked the VACB to register a case against him over allegations of nepotism in awarding bar licences and tweaking the Abkari policy to help some of the owners of bar hotels. The Congress leader had withdrawn his resignation a week later after the UDF refused to accept it.
In its report submitted before the Vigilance Court, Muvattupuzha, on March 4, the Central range of the VACB admitted that there was no substantial evidence to prove that Mr. Babu had misused his official position to display preferential treatment in the award of foreign liquor licences.
The allegations that he had used government orders at the behest of the office-bearers of Kerala Bar Hotel Association (KBHA) and his benamis with an ulterior motive to disrupt the functioning of licencees and make unlawful gain were baseless. The accused had no specific role in these decisions as it were taken by the Cabinet, it said.
The VACB also turned down the allegations that Mr. Babu had closed down the outlets of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation in favour of bar owners.
On allegations that the KBHA had collected money from its members in the name of giving bribe to the Minister for not increasing the licence fee for sale of foreign liquor, the Vigilance said the legal fund of the association, which was alleged to have been used as bribe money, was used for meeting the legal expenses of the organisation. There was no evidence to prove the allegation, it said.
Reacting to the VACB report, Mr. Babu said that truth had finally prevailed while reminding that his detractors had tried to snap his political career by raising baseless allegations.
