The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday termed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal the “kingpin” and “key conspirator” in alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy.
And pointed to his role as the convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which it defined as a “company”, to contend that he was liable for prosecution for money laundering.
In a 32-page remand application, the federal agency accused Kejriwal of formulating the policy to favour certain people and demand kickbacks from liquor businessmen, and said AAP benefited from the proceeds of the money laundering, which was utilised during election campaigns.
Seeking the minister’s custody for 10 days, the agency told the Rouse Avenue court that Kejriwal is “vicariously liable” for the offences committed by the party.
“Taking advantage of the fact that he was also CM of Delhi, he used the said post to facilitate the offence of money laundering punishable u/s 4 of PMLA (prevention of money laundering act) by the ‘company’ i.e. AAP,” the agency said in its remand note.
Rebutting the accusations and the plea for remand, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vikram Chaudhary and Ramesh Gupta – all representing Kejriwal, denied there was any direct evidence against their client and that a request for interrogation cannot be allowed based on statements of accused who have now turned approver to save themselves from punishment.
The agency claimed that the AAP received around ₹100 crore in bribes and that Kejriwal used his position to utilise proceeds of crime worth about ₹45 crore from the alleged kickbacks in AAP’s election campaign in Goa in 2022.
“Statements of various persons engaged in the election campaign related activities by the AAP in Goa have revealed that cash payments were made to them for their work done as survey workers, area managers, assembly managers etc. These persons and activities related to the election campaign were overall managed by Vijay Nair and Durgesh Pathak, AAP, MLA in Delhi,” the agency said in its court submission.
This also shows “the dissipation/utilisation of proceeds of crime by the representative of Manish Sisodia in Goa elections. This is also corroborated by one of the candidates of AAP of Goa elections in 2022 who received funds for election expenses in cash from the AAP volunteers in Goa”, the remand application added.
Linking Kejriwal to the generation and use of the kickbacks, ED claimed that, at the time of offence, Kejriwal was “in-charge of and responsible for the said “company”, that is, AAP.
“Therefore, not only the AAP but Kejriwal shall be deemed to be guilty of offences punishable u/s 4 of PMLA and shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished as provided u/s 70 of PMLA,” stated the remand note.
‘Information on ED officers’
An ED officer who asked not to be named also said that the agency recovered a set of documents from Kejriwal’s residence during searches on Thursday that contain “information about two senior officials of ED”.
The documents suggest that information about the work of these two ED officers, at supervisory ranks, was being gathered, the officer added.
The agency accused Kejriwal of being “intrinsically involved in the entire conspiracy” from policy formulation to allegedly hatching the kickback scheme with the so-called “South Group” and eventually using the proceeds in AAP’s Goa campaign.