ED says Arvind Kejriwal 'Key conspirator, kingpin', gets custody till Thursday
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to custodial interrogation of the Enforcement Directorate till March 28. Terming Kejriwal as «kingpin and key conspirator» in the Delhi excise policy case, ED had sought 10 days' custody.
Significantly, the remand paper filed by ED alleged that «Aam Aadmi Party has committed the offence of money laundering» through Kejriwal. This is the first time that the federal agency has accused AAP of money laundering in a court of law. As reported by ET on January 7, ED was contemplating invoking Section 70 (1) of PMLA to make AAP an accused in the case.
As per the section: «Where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, direction or order made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to the company, for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.»
The remand paper, seen by ET, alleged that «AAP is the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the Delhi liquor scandal. Part of the proceeds of crime to the tune of cash of ₹45 crore (approx) has been utilised in the election campaign of AAP for Goa assembly in 2022… In this manner, AAP has committed the offence of money laundering through Arvind Kejriwal and the offences are covered by Section 70 of the PMLA».
The remand paper alleged the offence took
