Delhi government lost Rs 2,000 crore due to AAP liquor policy: CAG

The Delhi government suffered a loss of Rs 2,002 crore due to the now-scrapped liquor policy between 2021 and 2022, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday.

The former Aam Aadmi Party government in the capital introduced the liquor policy in November 2021, exiting from the liquor business and handing it over to private vendors in a licence-based system.

This, according to the government, was done to eliminate the liquor mafia, increase government revenue and improve consumer experience.

In July 2022, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the policy after the chief secretary alleged in a report that it provided “financial benefits” to “private liquor barons” as part of a quid pro quo scheme involving Aam Aadmi Party leaders.

The Delhi government withdrew the policy nine days later.

In the ensuing months, central agencies raided the homes and offices of Aam Aadmi Party leaders and summoned them for questioning. Party leaders including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had been arrested in the case.

An Enforcement Directorate chargesheet said that private vendors involved in the “scam” funded the Aam Aadmi Party’s poll campaign in Goa in 2022.

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s report states that...

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