Two companies associated with business conglomerate Essel Group have been linked to the INR11,808 crore (US$1.83 billion) lottery scam in the Indian state of Mizoram.

Several weeks ago, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) came out with a report, in which it revealed “a host of anomalies in the way the Mizoram government handled the state lotteries,” resulting in the state losing to close to $ billion in revenue.

The CAG said the Mizoram government never collected sales proceeds, only allowing the distributors to deposit a “minimum guaranteed revenue” to the state instead of the required 10-percent commission. The CAG also found that all the lottery schemes were proposed by the distributors and the state approved all of them without any alterations.

Now, new details have emerged in the CAG investigation, including charges that Mizoram government officials and lottery ticket distribution companies played favorites in awarding tenders.