New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 2 November in connection with the excise policy case.
He had also been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April for questioning.
Though Kejriwal has not been named as an accused in the FIR, he will be questioned in connection with the formation of the now scrapped liquor policy of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, besides alleged irregularities in its modification, ED sources told ThePrint.
The sources added that since the ED has been able to establish a “money trail of Rs 338 crore in the case”, Kejriwal will be confronted regarding the findings. “There are several transactions to show how the money went to AAP and all those questions will be posed to the party chief.”
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj was Monday quoted by ANI as saying: “As per the news that the central government’s ED has sent summons to Delhi CM, it gets clear that the Centre has only one aim, to somehow finish AAP. They are not leaving a stone unturned in framing a false case to put CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail and to finish AAP.”
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, a key accused in the case, has been in jail ever since he was arrested by the CBI on 26 February and then by the ED on 9 March on charges of money laundering. The Supreme Court Monday rejected his bail, observing that a money trail of Rs 338 crore had been “tentatively established”.
A source in the ED alleged that Kejriwal was aware of how “undue favours” were being extended to licensees like waivers and reduction in license fee, and extension of L-1 license (granted to business entities having wholesale distribution experience in liquor trade). The source added that the Delhi CM will be questioned on the alleged kickbacks received for these “favours”.
While the CBI is probing how undue financial favours were allegedly granted to vendors taking liquor licenses, thereby causing losses of “over Rs 140 crore” to the state exchequer, and how kickbacks were received as part of a nexus, the ED is probing the money laundering aspect of the case.
On 22 July last year, Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the AAP government’s 2021-22 excise policy, alleging “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, according to an assessment report prepared by Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar.
Following directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy, the CBI on 17 August registered a case against Sisodia, three Delhi government officials, 10 liquor licensees, and unknown others.
According to the CBI’s FIR — accessed by ThePrint — the named accused were instrumental in “recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without the approval of the competent authority, with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender”.
Kejriwal’s link
In its charge sheet, the ED has stated that the new liquor policy “prompted cartel formations through backdoor” and “incentivised other illegal activities” as part of a criminal conspiracy by top AAP leaders to extract kickbacks from liquor barons.
The charge sheet, seen by ThePrint, further alleges that the rescinded liquor policy gave way to an “exorbitant profit margin at 12 percent and huge retail profit margin of 185 percent”.
According to the charge sheet, AAP media and communications in-charge Vijay Nair allegedly received Rs 100 crore from the “South Group” which comprised, among others, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, as advance kickbacks. This money — managed through “hawala channels” — was then used in the AAP’s poll campaign in Goa, the ED claimed.
The charge sheet also stated that Nair had arranged for a meeting between Kejriwal and the owner of Indospirit Group, Sameer Mahendru. When the meeting did not materialise, Nair arranged a “FaceTime call” where Kejriwal allegedly told Mahendru that Nair was “his boy” and that he should trust him. These facts, the ED said, were relevant to establishing Nair’s involvement in the framing of the now-withdrawn excise policy and the alleged scam.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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