Ex-minister booked in Kerala bar scam

The case was registered after a quick verification found out that “there was prima facie corruption,” vigilance sources here said. The FIR would be submitted at the vigilance court in Muvattupuzha, they said. 

The Vigilance Director had last month ordered the quick verification on the basis of complaints submitted by Kerala Hotel Industrialists Association that the former minister had conducted “blatant abuse of power and corrupt practices.” 

“It was found in the preliminary inquiry that there was prima facie corruption. Corruption and irregularities have been found in various things including in awarding bar licences, in the closure of beverages corporation outlets and setting the department’s norms and policies in this regard,” the sources told PTI.

The mandatory criteria were not followed in the closure of beverage outlets and the minister “illegally” intervened into the matter, the sources added. 

Babu had unsuccessfully contested from Tripunithura in the May 16 assembly polls. 

He had resigned as excise minister on January 23 this year in the wake of a vigilance court directing filing of an FIR against him in the bar bribery case, on the allegation by hotelier Biju Ramesh that he had accepted Rs 10 crore as bribe. He made a return into the Oommen Chandy cabinet on February 1 after the Kerala High Court stayed the order.