Rs 2.34 cr stock missing in govt-run liquor shops

Ongole

Prohibition and excise officials who are settling the accounts of government retail liquor outlets were shocked to find Rs 2.34 crore scam in the two Elite Wines (walk-in) outlets in Ongole. The officials started an inquiry and are questioning the staff.

There were 171 government retail outlets, and a few Elite Wines (walk-in outlets) to sell liquor in Prakasam district when the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited operated them during the previous government.

The government provided furniture, computers, and one supervisor and three salesmen to work in each of them. As the NDA government conducted the auction for the liquor shops to be run by private persons, the department ordered the officials to close the outlets by October 15, to facilitate the lottery winners opening their shops.

Joint collector R Gopalakrishna ordered the excise officials to inspect the government-run outlets and verify the furniture, equipment, stock, and registers of supply and sale. He also advised them to take the support of revenue officers and video record the complete procedure.

Prakasam district excise superintendent Khaja Mohiyiddin said that the officials started the inspection with Ongole and surrounding mandals, and found no discrepancy in the stock and accounts of the government retail outlets. But they found a huge scam in the two Elite Wines walk-in outlets in Ongole. He said that they found discrepancy of Rs 1,53,10,600 and Rs 81,23,170, totalling Rs 2.34 crore in the accounts and stock at the two outlets.

He said that one supervisor of the Elite Wines absconded as they started the inspection. After they enquired the remaining staff, they found that the verification officer, who is a constable in the excise department, appointed to verify the registers and stock regularly, committed fraud in the two walk-in outlets by taking the stock. The superintendent said that a departmental and police investigation is going on against the absconding supervisor and the constable. He said after they nabbed the men at large, they could find how the stock disappeared, and the persons behind the scam. Khaja Mohiyiddin said that the lottery winners hadn’t yet opened the shops in full-scale in the district. He said that some of them failed to find premises in line with Rule 24 of The Andhra Pradesh Excise Rules, 2022, while some are waiting for auspicious days.