The Aam Aadmi Party and BJP were at loggerheads on Tuesday over the arrested of Delhi minister Satyendar Jain by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. While AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the case “completely fake and politically motivated”, the BJP demanded Jain’s removal from Delhi cabinet.
Breaking his silence on Jain’s arrest, Kejriwal said that the AAP is an honest political party and that he himself would have taken action against Jain if there were even one per cent substance in the case.
“I have studied the case against Jain. It is completely fake and motivated by political reasons. We have faith in the judiciary. Jain is following the path of truth, and he will come out clean,” the chief minister told reporters during an inspection of a road development programme of his government.
On the other hand, addressing the media over the case, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that the AAP was seeded with corruption from top to bottom. He said that instead of acting the corrupts, Kejriwal nurtured and shielded them.
“On Satyendar Jain’s arrest, the entire nation is saying: ‘Paapi AAP, paap hi paap’ (sinner AAP, one sin after sin),” Bhatia said while addressing a press conference.
Charging that AAP had a “100 per cent strike rate in corruption”, Bhatia cited the recent arrest of former Punjab Health Minister Vijai Singla, who is in judicial custody over corruption charges. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had removed him from the Cabinet amid allegations of him for demanding 1 per cent commission in tenders and purchases by the health department.
“The public wants to ask Arvind Kejriwal, the supreme leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, that why corruption follows wherever you put your foot,” Bhatia said.
The ED had last month said assets worth Rs 4.81 crore of Jain’s family and companies “beneficially owned and controlled” by him were provisionally attached as part of a money-laundering probe against the Delhi minister.
In a statement issued then, the agency had said it had issued a provisional order under the PMLA to “attach immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to Akinchan Developers Private Limited, Indo Metal Impex Private Limited, Paryas Infosolutions Private Limited, Manglayatan Projects Private Limited, J J Ideal Estate Private Limited, Swati Jain, the wife of Vaibhav Jain, Sushila Jain, the wife of Ajit Prasad Jain, and Indu Jain, the wife of Sunil Jain.”
The probe found that “during the period 2015-16, when Satyendar Kumar Jain was a public servant, the companies beneficially owned and controlled by him received accommodation entries to the tune of Rs 4.81 crore from shell (paper) companies against cash transferred to Kolkata-based entry operators through the hawala route.