A Delhi court on Friday sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 28 in a money laundering case related to excise policy.
Now the next target of ED could be the entire Aam Aadmi Party.
In fact, ED has indicated during the hearing before the special court constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can also be made an accused later.
The ED on Friday claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party was the “big beneficiary” of the proceeds of crime in the alleged liquor scam case.
It said that Arvind Kejriwal took advantage of his position as the Chief Minister of Delhi to carry out money laundering by the Aam Aadmi Party.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, told the court during Kejriwal’s remand hearing that the chief minister has been arrested “due to both personal and mutual obligation”. In a first appearance in court, ED alleged that AAP “has committed the offense of money laundering through Arvind Kejriwal…”
ED alleges that Kejriwal was directly involved in the use of crime-earned money in AAP’s Goa election campaign in (2022).
He is the convenor of the party and the top decision maker in it. The agency told the court that it recorded statements of various people associated with AAP’s election campaign activities during the Goa elections and found that they were paid in cash for work such as survey workers, area managers, assembly managers.
Quoting sources, it is written that ED may also consider including AAP as an accused. If this happens it will be a big development.
Because the assets of the “company” may be attached or seized under investigation by the ED. Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) deals with offenses committed by companies.
Section 70 of the PMLA states that if any person or a company violates any provision of this Act or any rule, direction or order made thereunder, action can be taken against both.
It states that if the person was in charge of the company at the time of the violation or was responsible for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, both will be considered guilty of the violation and will be prosecuted and punished accordingly.
Although a political party is not a “company” incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, there is an important caveat in the provision that can bring a political party within the ambit of anti-money laundering laws.
Under this, a “company” means any corporate body and also includes a firm or individual.
ED has said for the first time in the nearly two-year-old case that AAP was a major beneficiary of the money earned from crime in the Delhi Excise scam.
It alleged that around Rs 45 crore, received as a part of the proceeds of crime, was used by AAP to campaign for the Goa Assembly elections.
The agency claimed that this amount was sent to Goa through the Char Angadiya system. The Angadiya network works to move huge amounts of cash from one place to another.
ED said, “In this manner, AAP has committed the crime of money laundering through Arvind Kejriwal and such offenses have been considered under Section 70 of PMLA.”
The agency said that as AAP’s national convenor and member of the national executive, Kejriwal was “ultimately responsible for the money used in election expenses”.
The ED said it had last year recorded the statement of AAP Rajya Sabha member and national treasurer ND Gupta, who had told the agency that Kejriwal was in overall in-charge of the party, but the National Executive or Political Affairs Committee was not responsible for deciding the election expenditure. No approval is taken. It alleged that Kejriwal controls major activities of AAP.