Arvind Kejriwal, AAP named as accused in liquor policy case by ED

New Delhi: In a major setback to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a fresh chargesheet in the Delhi excise policy case, naming him and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as accused.

This is the first time that a sitting chief minister and a political party has ever been named as an accused under the money-laundering charges.

Official sources said a voluminous prosecution complaint (equal to the chargesheet) has been filed before a special court here and special judge Kaveri Baweja is likely to take up the chargesheet, spanning 200 pages apart from the annexure, for cognisance in the coming days.

The accused are sought to be charged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The Central financial agency had arrested Mr Kejriwal, also the AAP’s national convenor, from his official residence here on March 21. He is currently out of jail on interim bail.

This is the eighth chargesheet filed by the ED in this case in which it has arrested 18 people so far. Last week, a similar complaint was filed by the agency against BRS leader and former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K. Kavitha and four others.

A detailed prosecution complaint (orchargesheet) has been filed based on irrefutable evidence showing that Mr Kejriwal is the key conspirator who used his position as Delhi CM to facilitate the offence of money-laundering punishable under Section 4 of PMLA by the “company”, that is the AAP.

The CM was earlier described as the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the Delhi excise “scam” by the ED. It was alleged that he acted in collusion with Delhi government ministers, AAP leaders and others.

On Thursday, additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju told the Supreme Court that the Delhi chief minister played a key role in the formulation of the now-scrapped excise policy.

“We have direct evidence that Kejriwal stayed in a seven-star hotel, whose bills were partly paid by an accused in the case,” he said, adding that Mr Kejriwal, as the national convenor of the AAP, was vicariously responsible for the alleged scam.

The ED earlier claimed that the AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act, and hence it can be categorised as a “company” as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.

As Arvind Kejriwal was “in-charge of and responsible” for the said company -- that is AAP -- during the time of offence, he and his party “shall be deemed guilty” of offences mentioned under the anti-money laundering law and liable to be prosecuted and punished, it had said.

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.

Delhi lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.