New Delhi:

An internal investigation ordered by Pernod Ricard concluded that top executives at its India business violated the law by colluding with alcohol retailers in New Delhi, according to a document seen by Reuters, even as the French giant’s representatives denied wrongdoing in court and publicly.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January 2023 accused Pernod Ricard India (PRI) of engaging in money laundering by unlawfully facilitating $24 million in corporate guarantees to help some retailers fund their license bids in exchange for stocking more Pernod brands.

PRI lobbied New Delhi officials in favour of a 2021 law that allowed private retailers to run liquor shops, Reuters previously reported, in a major departure from the earlier system of the government operating such stores.

A May 2023 draft report produced by Indian law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, which PRI hired to conduct an internal probe, said three executives – including the then-chief operating officer of Pernod’s Indian operations, Rajesh Mishra – “have acted in violation of DEP”, referring to the Delhi Excise Policy, which prohibited manufacturers from investing in retail.

“There are conversations indicating that CG (corporate guarantee) was a means to have control over market share through retail control,” said the report, which was based on a review of internal Pernod communications and WhatsApp messages.

“Their conduct is also suggestive of a larger conspiracy between (the employees) and other industry players,” it said, adding it could “have implications” for Pernod in legal proceedings.

The 66-page document also stated that Mr Mishra made a “factually inaccurate” statement to central probe agencies during questioning.

A person with direct knowledge of the matter said the conclusions in the draft were identical to those in the final report sent to Pernod’s Paris headquarters a few weeks after the draft was written.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas did not respond to a request for comment.

PRI said in response to detailed Reuters’ questions that it denies “any wrongdoing by PRI or any of its executives in relation to the allegations raised by you in your email.”

“We have always collaborated with the respective authorities and have faith in the judicial process,” PRI added, without answering questions concerning the steps the company took after the law firm submitted its report.

A Pernod spokesperson in Paris did not respond to questions. The Enforcement Directorate and Mr Mishra did not return requests for comment.

While the 2021 law has since been reversed, and stores are again government-run, the enforcement action remains the biggest regulatory overhang in India for Pernod. India is the largest market by volume sales for the producer of Absolut Vodka and Beefeater Gin, according to Euromonitor.

Due to the probe, PRI brands have been banned from sale in New Delhi, a key tastemaker market in India. The company is appealing the restrictions.

The report recommended that Mr Mishra be sacked or asked to resign. It said he was “instrumental in the initiating and approval of the proposal for financial assistance to retailers” though it advised against “acrimonious cessation” of employment amid court proceedings. Mr Mishra is now a top Pernod executive in Malaysia.

India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act stipulates penalties of a fine and between three and seven years imprisonment for defendants found guilty.

In response to the regulatory action, PRI’s auditor, KPMG India affiliate BSR & Co, asked its client to estimate the impact on its business, according to an August 2023 letter seen by Reuters. The firm replied its civil liability was an estimated $67 million.

PRI reported $189 million in profits for its latest financial year on revenue of $3.2 billion.

KPMG did not return a request for comment.

Earlier Denials, India Challenges

PRI told Reuters in January and February 2023 that it “strongly” denies the Enforcement Directorate allegations, calling them “factually incorrect.”

As recently as September. 4, lawyers for Benoy Babu, a PRI executive named in Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas’s report, asked the Delhi High Court to quash the case against him. They said allegations against Mr Babu, who was briefly jailed pending trial last year, were “false and baseless”, and authorities were relying on “hearsay evidence”.

The court has yet to rule on Mr Babu’s non-public filing, which was seen by Reuters. He didn’t respond to questions from the news agency.

India is a key market for Pernod. In 2023, it had a 16 per cent share in the country’s spirits market as measured by sales volume, according to Euromonitor.

Challenges Abound

Pernod is contesting a $250 million tax demand for allegedly undervaluing imports and is facing two antitrust cases, one related to its alleged collusion with retailers in New Delhi.

The loosening of liquor store ownership policies in 2021 was potentially transformative for Pernod, with one internal PRI presentation submitted by authorities to the court stating the company wanted to “take control of retail shops” in New Delhi.

PRI exploited the policy change by offering corporate guarantees to select retailers to help them obtain loans for store licenses, the Enforcement Directorate said. The agency said this constituted an indirect investment in liquor retailers.

Mr Mishra wrote in an email to then-Pernod Asia chief executive Philippe Guettat on July 6, 2021 that he was hopeful Pernod’s close trade associates would aggressively bid for licences and “we would like to provide financial support to 4 of them … Our support” in the form of corporate guarantees.

Mr Guettat, now a senior Pernod executive in France, responded he was “aligned and supportive of the recommendation” if due diligence was conducted. Mr Guettat did not respond to Reuters’ queries. Excerpts from their emails were included in the report.

The Enforcement Directorate also interviewed executives including Mr Mishra, who told law enforcement agents that he was not in possession of a draft of Delhi’s liquor policy before it was released in 2021, according to the law firm’s report.

But Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas found this “factually inaccurate” because Mr Mishra was in possession of non-public government documents and “further circulated the same within Pernod India.” “Possession of the documents as stated is suggestive of a larger conspiracy … to have a favourable policy formulated in conspiracy with public officials or their intermediaries.”

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted searches at the residence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjeev Arora in Punjab’s Ludhiana. Officials said the raids were held in a money laundering probe case.

According to sources, Mr Arora, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, is accused of fraudulently acquiring land worth crores in the name of his company.

Reacting to the ED action, Mr Arora said he was “not sure” about the reason for the search operations.

“I am a law-abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for the search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered,” he wrote on X.

I am a law abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered.

— Sanjeev Arora (@MP_SanjeevArora) October 7, 2024

The probe agency conducted raids at 17 locations across Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Delhi, including at the residence of realtor Hemant Sood.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia attacked the ED, saying they had raided many leaders of his party but “found nothing”.

“Since this morning, the ED is raiding the house of Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. In the last two years, they have raided (former Delhi chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal’s house, my house, (AAP MP) Sanjay Singh’s house, (former Delhi minister) Satyendra Jain’s house… nothing was found anywhere,” he posted on X in Hindi.

Mr Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The ED then arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He was granted bail in August this year.

Besides him, senior AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain have also faced the ED heat. While Mr Kejriwal and Mr Singh have been granted bail, Mr Jain, who was arrested by the probe agency in May 2022, remains in custody.

New Delhi:

Bail or no bail? That is the question the Supreme Court will answer this morning as it rules on a plea by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in June, in the alleged liquor excise policy scam.

Should it rule in his favour, Mr Kejriwal will be released nearly six months after he was first arrested – by the Enforcement Directorate – and two months after getting bail for that arrest.

The Aam Aadmi Party boss could not leave then – on July 12 – as he had been arrested by the CBI just a few weeks earlier, after the ED dropped its challenge, in connection with the same case.

In various forums since, including in the Supreme Court in this round of petitions, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Mr Kejriwal criticised that second arrest as an “insurance”, arguing it was designed to keep the AAP leader in jail, and his party on edge, before February’s Delhi election.

Last week, in the final hearing before the court withdrew to decide, he pointed out his client had already satisfied the ‘triple test’ legal principle for bail, since the same court had given him bail in the ED case.

READ | Big Supreme Court Relief For Arvind Kejriwal In Delhi Liquor Policy Case

The CBI has repeatedly pointed to what it believes is a mountain of evidence against Mr Kejriwal, most of which is drawn from testimony of ‘approvers’, i.e., former accused who have been pardoned, or will receive lesser sentences, for testifying against the Chief Minister.

The agency, like the ED, believes Mr Kejriwal played a key role in drafting and clearing the controversial November 2021 liquor excise policy, which was withdrawn eight months later.

The court, though, waved away an appeal by the CBI – that releasing Mr Kejriwal now, after he had been denied relief by the High Court – would “demoralise” that forum. “Don’t say that…” a bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surya Kant, who will deliver today’s verdict, had said.

READ | “Don’t Say…”: Top Court On CBI’s Argument Against Bail For Kejriwal

It did, however, express concern over agencies seeming to rely on ‘approvers’ to make their case; in releasing Telangana politician K Kavitha, another accused in this case, it noted “You have to be fair… a person who incriminates himself is made a witness? What is this fairness?”

READ | “What Is This ‘Fairness’?” Top Court To Agencies In Liquor Policy Case

The run-up to this verdict has also seen the Supreme Court highlight the ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ principle, laid down in 1977 by Justice Krishna Iyer, in connection with other cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, under which Mr Kejriwal faces charges.

The court has previously also reasoned that provisions for bail in the PMLA – under Section 45 of the law, which sets out two additional conditions for release – cannot overturn the primacy of an individual’s right to liberty. The note has been interpreted by many to mean there can be no argument to deny bail to a money-laundering accused, assuming other conditions are met.

After Singh, Sisodia, Kavitha, Next Kejriwal?

If he does get bail now, Mr Kejriwal will be the fifth, and most high-profile, opposition leader to leave jail after being arrested in this case. Three of those released so far are his former deputy, Manish Sisodia, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and K Kavitha. The fifth was AAP leader Durgesh Pathak.

The three big names were released by the Supreme Court, which noted, in each case that authorities could not hold accused persons in prison indefinitely and without trial; in Mr Sisodia’s case last month the court called out the “travesty of justice” and flagged violation of a citizen’s right to liberty.

READ | “Travesty Of Justice”: Sisodia Gets Bail, Supreme Court Slams Delay

In April, while releasing Mr Singh, the court asked the arresting agency, the ED, why he had been jailed for six months without a trial and also pointed out it had failed to recover any of the Rs 2 crore he allegedly received as a bribe.

READ | “Just Because Woman Is Educated…”: Top Court As K Kavitha Gets Bail

Also last month, while releasing Ms Kavitha, the Supreme Court, once again, observed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader could not remain in jail if “likelihood trial in near future is impossible”.

Delhi Liquor Policy Case Explained

The Delhi liquor excise policy case involves allegations that Mr Kejriwal and the AAP received kickbacks of Rs 100 crore, including significant payments from a ‘South group’ led by Ms Kavitha, for allotment of wholesale licences. The ED and CBI believe this money was then used by the AAP to fund election campaigns, including that for the 2022 Goa Assembly election.

NDTV Explains | In Liquor Case, 193 Cr Profits, Kickback For AAP, Says ED, CBI

Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP, and Ms Kavitha and her party, the BRS of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, have denied all charges, and counter-accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to whom federal agencies like the ED and CBI report, of mounting a campaign against its critics and opposition leaders, particularly before elections.

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New Delhi:

AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat memorial, a day after he was released from jail in the Delhi liquor policy case.

He reached the memorial after offering prayers at the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place.

Mr Sisodia was accompanied by several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including MP Sanjay Singh and ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The Supreme Court on Friday gave Mr Sisodia bail in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged liquor policy “scam” and said his long incarceration of 17 months without trial had deprived him of the right to speedy justice.

After visiting the temple, Mr Sisodia said, “May Lord Hanuman bless all the people of Delhi”.

He hoped that with the blessing of Lord Hanuman, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who is in jail in the case, will also be released soon.

प्राचीन हनुमान मंदिर जाकर हनुमान जी का आशीर्वाद लिया और हनुमान चालीसा का पाठ किया।

ये हनुमान जी की मुझ पर कृपा थी जो मैं आज आप सब के बीच हूँ। हनुमान जी की मुख्यमंत्री @ArvindKejriwal जी पर भी विशेष कृपा हैं, वे जल्द ही हम सब के बीच होंगे।

बजरंग बली की जय! pic.twitter.com/EIZVrvKBiT

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) August 10, 2024

Mr Sisodia will visit the AAP headquarters on the DDU Marg around 12 noon to address party workers and leaders.

After walking out of the Tihar jail on Friday evening, Mr Sisodia said he got bail due to the power of the Constitution, and asserted that the same power will ensure the release of Kejriwal.

Mr Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 last year for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy 2021-22. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has granted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal bail in a money-laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate linked to the Delhi liquor policy. But Mr Kejriwal will remain in jail as he is currently being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a separate case.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta delivered the judgment. Mr Kejriwal has suffered incarceration for over 90 days, the court said while granting him interim bail in excise policy case filed by ED.

The AAP the Supreme Court ruling saying “satyamev jayate” (Truth alone triumphs).

“Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs)”, the party posted on X (formerly Twitter9 in Hindi along with a picture of Mr Kejriwal holding the national flag.

सत्यमेव जयते pic.twitter.com/dG5o2eHB0l

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) July 12, 2024

Mr Kejriwal, also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, was arrested on March 21 by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

In his petition, the 55-year-old had challenged the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court refusing to grant him relief.

The high court had upheld Mr Kejriwal’s arrest in the case, saying there was no illegality about it and that the central probe agency was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

Both the ED and CBI is probing the money laundering angle in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy.

Under the excise policy, introduced in November 2021, the Delhi government withdrew from the retail sale of liquor and allowed private licensees to run stores. In July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar flagged gross violations in the policy and alleged “undue benefits” to liquor licensees. The policy was scrapped in September that year.

The CBI has alleged that liquor companies were involved in framing the excise policy, which would have earned them a 12% profit. It said a liquor lobby dubbed the “South Group” had paid kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore to the AAP, part of which was routed to public servants. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged laundering of the kickbacks.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday posed a key question to the Enforcement Directorate as it heard Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest in the alleged liquor policy scam. The court asked the central agency, “If there is evidence that points towards guilt… and other that points towards innocence… can you selectively pick?”

“Is this an administrative task? You need to strike a balance between the two. You cannot exclude one aspect. You are depriving a person of their right to life,” Justice Dipankar Datta, part of a two-judge bench that includes Justice Sanjiv Khanna, said.

In a potentially key moment today, the court also asked Additional Solicitor General SV Raju – appearing for the Enforcement Directorate – why it had taken the central agency two years to act against the “political executive” – referring to the Chief Minister and his party. 

“…issue is that it has taken two years for this. It is not good for any investigating agency to say that it takes two years to unearth… now when will the trial start? From one stage to the other… from initiation of proceedings to arrest…” the court asked the ED.

The court also asked the ED why it was that “no question was asked about him (Mr Kejriwal)”, prior to summons being issued and his arrest, during the course of its investigation. “… only issue is why did you not ask and why you were delaying?”

“If I start asking about Arvind Kejriwal at the outset… it would have been called ‘malafide’…” Mr Raju responded, adding, “It takes time to understand… we can’t put it overnight. Things have to be confirmed.”

Earlier Mr Raju had recounted statements of approvers – i.e., ex-accused-turned-government witnesses – and declared “there is not a single statement exonerating” the AAP boss in this case. Mr Raju’s emphatic statements were meant to counter arguments by Mr Kejriwal’s camp – that the Chief Minister had not been named in initial witness records.

The AAP leader’s camp had pointed out the agency had argued – even as late as March 16, five days before his arrest – that Mr Kejriwal had not been listed as an accused. 

Appearing for Mr Kejriwal, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also pointed out that “all evidence on which I am arrested is pre-2023… every material is as on July 2023…”

In the previous hearing the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta had indicated it could consider grant of temporary bail to the Aam Aadmi Party leader to allow him to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha election.

Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats – all won by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 election – go to the polls on May 25. Acknowledging the time-consuming nature of these proceedings, the court had expressed its willingness to hear arguments from both sides for grant of bail.

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia, arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case in February last year, on Tuesday told a Delhi court hearing his bail petition that no purpose will be served by keeping him in jail any further.

The former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi told Special Judge MK Nagpal that the investigation against him in the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam was already complete and there was no possibility of him hampering the probe or destroying evidence.

He also told the judge that he was ready to abide by any condition imposed by the court if it decides to grant him bail.

Mr Sisodia is currently lodged in Tihar jail.

Earlier, the court had sent him to judicial custody after the ED submitted that the case was at a crucial stage and if released, the accused might hamper the investigation.

The ED’s case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the excise policy.

The CBI had registered the case alleging that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi liquor policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval.

The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, according to the CBI.

The agency arrested Mr Sisodia in February 2023 and he was later taken into custody by the ED from Tihar jail.

Following his arrest, Mr Sisodia resigned as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi minister and AAP leader Kailash Gahlot has been called for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case linked to the Delhi liquor policy. Mr Gahlot is currently the minister for home, transport, and law in the Delhi government.

Mr Gahlot has already reached the probe agency’s office.

The summons come just days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the case.

ED sources say Kailash Gahlot has been asked to appear for questioning in the case and getting his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.

The ED claims the policy provided an impossibly high profit margin of nearly 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesalers. Of the latter, six per cent – over Rs 600 crore – was recovered as bribes and the money was allegedly used to fund the Goa and Punjab poll campaigns, the agency claims.

Three top Aam Aadmi Party leaders including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case. The other two are AAP MP Sanjay Singh and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

K Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is also in jail.

New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will today make a big revelation in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam today, his wife claimed. Mr Kejriwal is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.

Here are 10 facts on this big story:

New Delhi:
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has planned a protest in the national capital today against the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case linked to the Delhi liquor policy.

Here are the top 10 updates on this big story