https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/enforcement-directorate-files-first-chargesheet-in-delhi-jal-board-money-laundering-case-423523-2024-03-30

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has submitted its initial chargesheet in a money laundering investigation related to suspected irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The prosecution document was filed in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi on March 28, PTI quoted official sources as saying.

The chargesheet lists four individuals and a company as the accused, including former DJB chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, contractor Anil Kumar Agarwal, former NBCC general manager D K Mittal, Tejinder Singh, and NKG Infrastructure Limited.

The ED alleges that bribe money from corruption in a contract by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was funneled as election funds to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was summoned for questioning but did not appear before the agency.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a separate money-laundering case related to alleged irregularities in Delhi's excise policy. The agency had conducted raids at various locations, including the premises of Kejriwal's personal assistant, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, and others in February as part of the investigation.

The ED's case against Arora and Agarwal is based on an FIR filed by the CBI. The FIR alleges that Arora awarded a DJB contract worth Rs 38 crore to NKG Infrastructure Limited, even though the company didn't meet the technical eligibility criteria. Arora and Agarwal were arrested by the ED on January 31 in connection with this case.

The ED has claimed that NKG Infrastructure Limited obtained the contract by submitting forged documents, and Arora was aware of the company's lack of technical eligibility. According to the ED, Arora received bribes in cash and through bank accounts after awarding the contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited. The agency alleges that Arora passed on the money to various individuals involved in managing DJB affairs, including those connected with the AAP.

"Bribe amounts were also passed on as election funds to the AAP," the federal agency has alleged.

The ED has accused the AAP of taking kickbacks in another case, alleging that Rs 45 crore of bribe money from the scrapped excise policy of 2021-22 was used for campaigning in the Goa Assembly polls. In the DJB contract case, the agency claims that the contract was awarded at highly inflated rates to facilitate the collection of bribes from the contractors.

"As against the contract value of Rs 38 crore, only about Rs 17 crore were spent towards the contract and the remaining amount was siphoned off in the guise of various fake expenses. "Such fake expenses were booked for bribes and election funds," the ED has alleged.

At a press briefing, Delhi minister Atishi denied the charges and stated that the case was another attempt to tarnish the image of the AAP and its leaders.