Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has informed the Enforcement Directorate that he is ready to appear before it for questioning via video conferencing in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped liquor policy case.
Last month, the Enforcement Directorate issued an eighth summons to Kejriwal, asking him to appear for questioning on March 4 (Monday). However, the AAP supremo has decided to skip the summons as the Delhi government will present its budget in the assembly later today.
In his response to the probe agency, the Chief Minister said he was ready to answer questions through video conferencing and reiterated that the summonses were “illegal”. He has asked for a date after March 12 to appear before the Enforcement Directorate.
In a statement, AAP alleged that the Enforcement Directorate’s purpose was not to investigate but to arrest Kejriwal during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party questioned why the probe agency was not questioning Kejriwal when he said he was ready to do so. It also said there should be a live telecast of the questioning session.
On February 26, Kejriwal skipped the Enforcement Directorate’s seventh summons, with AAP saying that the matter was “pending in court” and it would be heard on March 16.
The party urged the Enforcement Directorate to wait for the court’s decision instead of summoning repeated summonses.
Reacting to the latest development, BJP leader Harish Khurana questioned why Kejriwal was repeatedly skipping the Enforcement Directorate’s summonses.
“Like every time, Kejriwal has skipped the eighth summons. Has he determined any auspicious time on March 12? Why is he avoiding questioning by the Enforcement Directorate,” he said.
KEJRIWAL’S PROBE AGENCY SUMMONSES
The Delhi Chief Minister has skipped all the Enforcement Directorate’s summonses, calling them “illegal”. Apart from the eighth summons (on March 2), the earlier seven were issued on February 26, February 14, February 2, January 18, January 3, December 22, 2023 and November 2, 2023.
On February 17, a Delhi court allowed Kejriwal to appear before it physically on March 16 in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s recent complaint against him for skipping five summonses in the excise policy case, after he cited a debate on a trust motion in the House.
Following this, the court fixed 10 am on March 16 as the next date for Kejriwal to physically appear before it.
On February 7, Kejriwal was asked to appear before the court after the Enforcement Directorate had filed the complaint against him on February 3 for not complying with the previous summonses issued to him in the liquor policy case. The court said the AAP supremo was “legally bound” to comply.
The complaint was filed under Section 174 of the IPC for non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant and Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Enforcement Directorate wants to record Kejriwal’s statement in the Delhi liquor policy 2021-22 case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised, and allegations of bribery.
The probe agency claims that the AAP used kickbacks worth Rs 45 crore generated via the policy as part of its assembly poll campaign in Goa in 2022.