New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed its charge sheet against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam of 2021-22, making it first political party ever to be named as accused in a charge sheet.
This latest charge sheet is the eighth in the series filed by the ED under PMLA in the excise case since November 2022. The prosecution complaint has been filed before a special court here and the accused have been sought to be charged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), sources said.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, K Kavitha, and four others people were identified as accused in the seventh prosecution charge filed by the ED on May 10. Kejriwal was taken into custody by the ED on March 21 and detained in Tihar jail. Later, the Supreme Court granted him temporary release till June 1 so that he could continue to campaign for the AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case in 2022 in response to a complaint filed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, which is where the ED's money-laundering investigation began. It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to create loopholes in the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 to favour some liquor sellers.
"We have direct evidence that Kejriwal stayed in a seven-star hotel, whose bills were partly paid by an accused in the case," Additional Solicitor General S V Raju told the Supreme Court on Thursday, adding that Kejriwal played a key role in the formulation of the Delhi excise policy, which has now been scrapped.
He alleged that Kejriwal, as the national convenor of the AAP, was vicariously responsible for the alleged scam. The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the liquor policy. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA. The ED filed its money laundering case to probe alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy of 2021-22 on August 22, 2022, taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that was lodged on August 17, 2022.
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