Liquor Scam: Who is Donga who is Dora? Excise raids reveal GST evasion by Tonique wine shops

Hyderabad: The kind of alleged scams that are coming to fore, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections is causing ripples in the Opposition BRS.

So far, the issue of corruption had been revolving mostly around the Kaleshwaram project, Dharani portal, etc, but now another interesting issue of gross violation of GST payments by some liquor outlets reportedly owned by the BRS MPs and some senior leaders is likely to become a major poll plank.

The State Excise and Prohibition, Commercial Taxes and GST officials, who have got into action now, are trying to find out who could be the “Dora and who is Donga” -- who are responsible for the evasion of taxes to the extent of over Rs 100 crore and why and how they managed to evade submitting invoices to the commercial tax wing, according to sources. While the government is baffled as to how all these years, the authorities and officials concerned did not know that GST was being evaded by ‘Tonique’ elite wine shops which have opened many outlets in the city. The officials are also probing into whether they had received any notices regarding the violation of GST or not. A detailed probe into the verification of the records to find out the total evasion of taxes and persons responsible has been taken up.

The previous government, sources said, had issued a special GO (Government Order) giving exemptions which apparently helped the outlet owners to evade the taxes.

In the backdrop of this, the officials are also looking into the alleged illegal sale that had taken place and will probe to see if there are any links with the Delhi liquor scam as well.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has indicated that the government will disclose the names of ‘Dongas’ (GST looters) involved in the sale of liquor. As a follow-up, the Excise officials conducted raids on the liquor shops in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

These outlets were selling foreign liquor without paying GST. The elite liquor franchises, it is alleged, were given to some investors to operate them and pay monthly commission to influential BRS leaders. Soon after the BRS lost power in the state, the former MP who had links with the outlets had reportedly disowned them by handing over the management to others. Officials said all these issues will be probed and a report would be submitted to the government.

A team of 30 Excise officials conducted the raids at the elite wine shops in Jubilee Hills, Nagole, Kukatpally, Hitech City and other parts of Hyderabad and seized some documents. The managements have been asked to produce all the details of liquor purchases from the TS Beverages Corporation and invoices raised on a daily basis ever since the outlets were opened in the city. Excise Joint Commissioner Qureshi accompanied by the police conducted the raids.