Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday skipped the Enforcement Directorate’s summons in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board, the Aam Aadmi Party said, reported ANI.
“When there is bail from the court, why is ED sending summons again and again?” the party asked. “ED summons are illegal.”
The central agency had summoned Kejriwal on Saturday. This is the second case for which the Enforcement Directorate has summoned the Delhi chief minister.
Earlier on Saturday, a Delhi court had granted bail to Kejriwal on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate after the Aam Aadmi Party leader skipped eight summons issued to him in the Delhi excise policy case.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi said on Sunday that the Delhi Jal Board investigation is “another fake case” created to arrest Kejriwal before the Lok Sabha elections.
“Even we want to know what is the investigation about in this case,” Atishi said at a press conference. “They [central agencies] could not do anything in the previous matter, so they have opened new proceedings against him.”
Delhi Jal Board case
The case pertains to the alleged illegal tendering process in the Delhi Jal Board and the laundering of proceeds of the crime. It is based on a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in July 2022, reported the Hindustan Times.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, a former Delhi Jal Board engineer named Jagdish Kumar Arora had awarded a contract worth Rs 38 crore for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters to NKG Infrastructure Limited. The contract was reportedly given to the company despite NKG Infrastructure Limited’s failure to meet the contract’s technical eligibility criteria.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier arrested Arora and a contractor named Anil Kumar Aggarwal in the case. In its complaint, the agency claimed that Arora received a bribe after awarding the contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited. It said that the official then distributed the money to various persons in the Delhi Jal Board including individuals connected with the Aam Aadmi Party.
The agency also said that the contract was awarded at “highly inflated rates” for the purpose of collecting bribes.
“As against the contract value of Rs 38 crore, only about Rs 17 crore was spent towards the contract and the remaining amounts were siphoned off in guise of various fake expenses,” the agency claimed, according to the Hindustan Times.
It also said that the bribe money was passed on as election funds for campaigning.
On February 6, the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at the homes of persons associated with the Aam Aadmi Party in connection with the case. Those who were raided included Kejriwal’s secretary Bibhav Kumar and Rajya Sabha MP and party treasurer ND Gupta. Locations linked to former Delhi Jal Board member Shalabh Kumar were also raided.
Also read: A ‘liquor scam’ has put AAP leaders in jail. But has it dented the party’s image in Delhi?
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