Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday termed the Enforcement Directorate’s chargesheet into the Delhi liquor scam “fictional”, and accused the central investigative agency of being used to “topple governments”. The Aam Aadmi Party convener’s reaction came after the ED claimed in a chargesheet alleged that AAP used the money raised from the Delhi liquor scam to fund the Goa election campaign, reported ANI.
The chargesheet further stated that its Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) probe has so far revealed that the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was created by top leaders of AAP to continuously generate and channel illegal funds for themselves.
“In this government’s tenure, the ED must have filed would have filed 5,000 chargesheets, how many people have been punished? All cases filed by ED are fake. Cases registered by ED are only used to make or topple governments,” Kejriwal said.
“The ED chargesheet is a fiction,” the AAP national convenor added. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the policy promoted cartel formations through back-door awarding.
The probe agency claimed that AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair “orchestrated the entire scam” and is a close associate of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
The ED further said that Nair had arranged a meeting of owner/controller of IndoSpirits Sameer Mahandru, with Kejriwal and when that didn’t materialise, Nair had arranged a video call through facetime on his phone of the Sameer and Kejriwal.
It said that the Delhi CM had told Sameer that Vijay “is his boy” and that he should be trusted.
The ED stated that Nair had no role in the Delhi government, but acted as a broker/liaison/middleman on behalf of AAP leaders for getting bribes/kickbacks from various stakeholders in the Delhi liquor business in exchange of favourable outcomes in the excise policy.
“Investigation of the trail of this kickback so far has revealed that part of these funds was used in the election campaign of the AAP for the Goa Assembly elections in 2022. Cash payments to the tune of Rs 70 lakhs were made to the volunteers who were part of the survey team,” said the ED in the chargesheet, as quoted by ANI.
These kickbacks were paid in advance to AAP leaders through Nair by the South Group as part of an agreement between the South group.
On Thursday, the Rouse Avenue Court took cognisance of the ED chargesheet.
