The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that it will name the Aam Aadmi Party as a co-accused in the Delhi excise policy case in its next prosecution complaint. The ED’s counsel made the submission during a hearing in Manish Sisodia’s bail petition in the High Court.
The Enforcement Directorate opposed Sisodia’s bail plea stating that the accused was making deliberate attempts to delay trial in the excise policy case. It was earlier reported that the probe agency would file a fresh prosecution complaint by May 15 in order to meet the 60-day deadline since the arrest of co-accused K Kavitha, an MLC from Telangana.
Officials of the Enforcement Directorate said that the move to name AAP as an accused was unprecedented but backed by sound legal advice. The probe agency told a Delhi court in March that AAP has “committed the offence of money laundering through Arvind Kejriwal…”
The Indian Express quoting sources said that the argument invoking vicarious liability rests in Kejriwal’s alleged role — by virtue of being CM — in the formulation of the liquor excise policy which is being looked at as the source of generation of “tainted funds”.