The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has, for the fourth time, issued summons to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, according to official sources on Saturday.
Kejriwal, also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has been directed to appear before the agency at its headquarters in Delhi on January 18,2024.
As per AAP sources, Kejriwal is slated to be in Goa from January 18 to 20 for a three-day visit to assess his party’s preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The 55-year-old leader had declined to appear before the ED for the third time on January 3, asserting that the agency’s “non-disclosure and non-response approach” could not stand the test of law, equity, or justice. He contended that the agency’s “obstinacy” amounted to assuming the roles of judge, jury, and executioner.
Previously, the chief minister had been summoned on November 2 and December 21, 2023. In a recent notice, the ED has once again dismissed Kejriwal’s argument that the summons were “not in consonance with the law” and therefore should be withdrawn. The agency maintains that the summonses were issued “well within the PMLA procedures and law,” according to sources.
Kejriwal’s name has featured multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED in the case. The agency claims that the accused were in contact with him regarding the preparation of the now-abandoned Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. The ED is anticipated to submit a new supplementary charge sheet, possibly implicating the AAP as a “beneficiary” of alleged kickbacks generated through the excise policy.
The case involves allegations that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, granting licenses to liquor traders, facilitated cartelization and favored specific dealers who purportedly paid bribes. This allegation has been consistently denied by the AAP. Subsequently, the policy was scrapped, and Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe, leading to the ED registering a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
