Madras High Court halts ED action on alleged Tamil Nadu liquor scam

The Madras High Court on Thursday verbally told the Enforcement Directorate to put on hold its actions related to searches that it conducted at the offices of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, or Tasmac, earlier this month, The Indian Express reported.

A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N Senthilkumar, however, stopped short of ordering an interim stay on the investigation.

Tasmac is a government-owned company that has a monopoly over the wholesale and retail sales of alcoholic beverages in Tamil Nadu.

The ED has alleged that Tasmac is at the centre of a Rs 1,000-crore corruption network involving state officials, liquor distilleries and bottling companies. It based its investigation on first information reports filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The agency on March 6 searched several locations across Tamil Nadu, including the Tasmac headquarters, in connection with the case.

Tasmac alleged that during the searches, Enforcement Directorate officials violated the rights of its employees by seizing their mobile phones, and claimed that some employees were detained for inquiry for 60 hours, Bar and Bench reported. The state-owned company claimed that ED officials did so without producing summons and without explaining the reasons for the searches to the employees.

The Enforcement Directorate, however, denied that employees were stopped from going back home.

Nevertheless, the High Court expressed concern about Tasmac’s allegations....

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