New Delhi: On Friday, May 17, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a new charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case, naming Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as accused. This marks the first instance of a sitting chief minister and a political party facing money laundering charges.
According to official sources, the prosecution complaint, consisting of approximately 200 pages, has been submitted to a special court. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja is expected to take up the chargesheet for consideration in the coming days.
The accused are being charged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as per the sources. Kejriwal has been named as an accused both in his capacity as Chief Minister and as the national convenor of AAP.
The ED arrested 55-year-old Kejriwal from his official residence on March 21. He is currently out on interim bail. This is the eighth charge sheet filed by the ED in this case, which has seen the arrest of 18 individuals and the naming of 38 entities as accused, with assets worth Rs 243 crore attached. Recently, the ED filed a similar complaint against BRS leader and former Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha, and four others.
The ED had previously referred to Kejriwal as the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the Delhi excise “scam,” alleging collusion with Delhi government ministers, AAP leaders, and others. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that Kejriwal played a crucial role in the formulation of the now-scrapped excise policy.
“We have direct evidence that Kejriwal stayed in a seven-star hotel, with bills partially paid by an accused in the case,” Raju stated, adding that Kejriwal, as the national convenor of the AAP, bore vicarious responsibility for the alleged scam.
The ED has argued that AAP, as a political party, is defined as an association or body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and can thus be categorized as a “company” under section 70 of the PMLA. Consequently, since Kejriwal was “in charge of and responsible” for AAP during the time of the offence, he and his party “shall be deemed guilty” of the offences under the anti-money laundering law and liable to prosecution and punishment.
The excise case involves allegations of corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities, leading the ED to register a case under the PMLA following a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022. The ED initiated its money laundering investigation on August 22, 2022, to probe the alleged irregularities.
