New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the second time in connection with the alleged excise policy scam, on 21 December.
Earlier summoned by the agency on 2 November this year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief decided to skip the summons and instead travelled to then poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to address a public meeting that same day. In a letter to ED, Kejriwal later alleged that the agency was acting at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to malign his image and that the summons were “politically motivated”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had questioned Kejriwal for more than eight hours in April this year in connection with a parallel probe in the case.
According to ED sources, although Kejriwal has not been named as an accused in the ECIR (ED’s equivalent of an FIR), he will be questioned in connection with alleged irregularities in the formation of the Delhi government’s now-scrapped liquor policy.
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, said one source.
The source added, “There are several transactions to show how the money went to AAP and all those questions will be posed to the party chief.”
The agency, it is learnt, alleged that Kejriwal was aware of how “undue favours” were extended to licensees, including waivers and reduction in licence fee, along with extension of L-1 licences (granted to businesses with experience in wholesale distribution of liquor).
According to the source mentioned earlier, the Delhi CM will be questioned on the alleged kickbacks received for these “favours”.
The ED is probing the money laundering aspect in this case, while the CBI is probing if undue financial favours were granted to vendors who secured liquor licences, thereby allegedly causing losses of “over Rs 140 crore” to the state exchequer, and whether kickbacks were received as part of an alleged nexus.
On 22 July last year, Delhi 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 former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia, three Delhi government officials, 10 liquor licensees, and unknown others.
According to the CBI’s FIR, accessed by ThePrint, those 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”.
The AAP issued a statement in response to the summons late Monday, saying: “It is clear that anyone who questions Modi will be arrested or suspended. They fear Arvind Kejriwal the most, his Delhi model the most. If today Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain join the BJP, they will be given a clean chit like Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal.”
The party further said that the excise policy scam case is a “completely fake case only to target the AAP leadership”, adding that the BJP has “not been able to produce a single piece of evidence in courts”.
It further referred to the case as “political vendetta to counter the growing popularity of AAP across the country”.
“It is already in public knowledge that CM is going for Vipassana on 19th. This was planned almost a month back. Our lawyers are studying the notice,” the party statement further said.
‘Prompted cartel formations, incentivised illegal activities’
In its chargesheet, the ED has stated that the now-scrapped liquor policy “prompted cartel formations through backdoor” and “incentivised other illegal activities” as part of an alleged criminal conspiracy by top AAP leaders to extract kickbacks from liquor barons.
The chargesheet, 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 chargesheet, 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 chargesheet also claimed that Nair arranged a meeting between Kejriwal and the managing director of Indospirit Group, Sameer Mahendru and when that meeting did not materialise, Nair arranged a “FaceTime call” during which 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.
(This is an updated version of the report.)
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: ‘Rs 100 cr kickbacks, cartels & Facetime call with Kejriwal’: ED chargesheet in liquor scam case