The enforcement directorate on Friday field a supplementary chargesheet in the money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam, naming the Aam Aadmi Party and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal as accused.
This is the first time a political party is named as accused in a money laundering case. The ED filed the fresh chargesheet—the eighth in the liquor scam case—in the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi. The agency has arrested 18 people so far.
The Delhi chief minister, who was arrested by the ED from his official residence on March 21, is currently out of jail on interim bail. Kejriwal’s former deputy Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh have already been arrested in the case.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
The CM has earlier been called the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the Delhi excise “scam” by the ED. It is alleged he acted in collusion with ministers of Delhi government, AAP leaders and other persons.
“We have direct evidence that Kejriwal stayed in a seven-star hotel, whose bills were partly paid by an accused in the case,” Additional Solicitor General S V Raju told the Supreme Court on Thursday, adding that Kejriwal played a key role in the formulation of the Delhi excise policy, which has now been scrapped.
He alleged that Kejriwal, as the national convenor of the AAP, was vicariously responsible for the alleged scam.
