New Delhi: Purchase of electoral bonds simply 4 days after the arrest of the promoter-director by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement within the Delhi excise coverage case, and months after his choice to develop into an approver within the case — that is what information on Electoral Bonds Scheme reveals for Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical large Aurobindo Pharma.
According to this information, uploaded by the Election Commission of India Thursday following the Supreme Court’s directive, the corporate has donated a complete sum of Rs 52 crore via electoral bonds between 3 April, 2021 and eight November, 2023.
Nearly half of this sum — Rs 25 crore, equal to 25 bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination every — was contributed on 8 November, 2023, 5 months after his choice to develop into an approver within the Delhi excise coverage case.
Aurobindo Pharma director P. Sarath Reddy was arrested by the ED on 10 November, 2022, on fees of being concerned within the alleged cartelisation in liquor commerce favoured below the now-scrapped Delhi excise coverage formulated and applied by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) authorities.
Five days after his arrest, Aurobindo Pharma bought 5 electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore every.
Apart from its contributions in November 2022 and 2023, the corporate bought 15 bonds of Rs 1 crore every in April 2022.
A supply within the ED mentioned that they’ve carried out due diligence within the case by submitting a chargesheet, attaching property value Rs 400 crore, and the investigation within the case remains to be on. The supply added, “No such links should be drawn with a company buying electoral bonds as these two things are not connected.”
ThePrint reached Aurobindo Pharma for a remark by way of electronic mail. This report shall be up to date if and when a response is obtained.
The ED in its arguments has maintained that Reddy shaped the “South Group” of the liquor cartel as a part of the excise coverage formulated and applied by the Aam Aadmi Party authorities in Delhi and that this group included Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief Ok. Kavitha (daughter of former Telangana CM Ok. Chandrashekar Rao), and YSRCP chief Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, as its members.
The ED has alleged in its prosecution criticism that this “south group” paid a kickback of Rs 100 crore to AAP via the occasion’s former marketing campaign supervisor Vijay Nair, which it used within the Goa meeting elections.
“The conspiracy was orchestrated by Vijay Nair (representative of Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders) along with the South Group (comprising of Sarath Reddy, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Raghav Magunta and K. Kavitha, who were represented by Arun Pillai, Abhishek Boinpally and Buchi Babu). The new Excise Policy of 2021-22 was brought out with an extraordinarily high 12% profit margin for wholesalers and almost 185% profit margin for the retailers. As a scheme, 6% out of the 12% margin was to be collected back from the wholesalers as kickback to the leaders of the AAP. The South Group, however, paid this kickback to the tune of Rs 100 crore approx in advance to Vijay Nair, who was managing this scheme and conspiracy on behalf of the leaders of the AAP (sic),” ED had alleged in its fourth supplementary prosecution criticism filed final 12 months within the case. ThePrint has accessed the criticism.
“In lieu of this advance kickback payment, Vijay Nair ensured that the South Group secured stakes in wholesale businesses as they had no hold/base in Delhi liquor business and their wholesale business gets the business of one of the biggest manufacturers (sic),” it added.
However, in June 2023, Reddy moved an software earlier than the Rouse Avenue court docket in Delhi to develop into an approver within the case. The court docket agreed and he was pardoned within the case.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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