The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear for questioning in a money-laundering case related to the excise policy on December 2. Kejriwal has been issued a summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
This is the second summons to the Delhi Chief Minister. Earlier, he was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) related to the matter. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were earlier arrested in the excise policy case.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government officials had on Saturday said that Kejriwal will leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course at an undisclosed location on December 19.
Earlier, the Delhi Chief Minister had skipped the Enforcement Directorate summons. The probe agency had summoned the Delhi Chief Minister for questioning on November 2. However, Delhi CM Kejriwal demanded the ED withdraw its “vague and motivated” notice summoning him for questioning, claiming that it was illegal and politically motivated.
“The said summons is not clear as to the capacity in which I am being summoned i.e. as a witness or a suspect in the above-mentioned case. Please recall the said summons, which is, to say the least, vague and motivated and I am advised, unsustainable in law,” Kejriwal stated in his letter to Jogendar, Assistant Director, ED.
The federal probe agency alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
In the ongoing case, the ED has cited Kejriwal’s name in its chargesheets multiple times, asserting that the accused individuals had been in contact with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader regarding the formulation and execution of the now-defunct Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.
