After ED represents charge sheet, The Enforcement Directorate filed a charge sheet in the Delhi liquor scam in Rouse Avenue Court on Wednesday. ED has made Aam Aadmi Party an accused in the charge sheet. The investigating agency has also revealed the role of Arvind Kejriwal in its charge sheet. In the 209-page charge sheet, Arvind Kejriwal has been named accused number 37.
Apart from this, ED has named Charanpreet as an accused in the transfer of money through Hawala, whereas the direct messages between Kejriwal and Vinod Chauhan, who handles the proceeds of crime, have been presented in the court as evidence. Bank notes, serial numbers and WhatsApp chats have been mentioned sequentially in the charge sheet.
On the role of Arvind Kejriwal, ED said in the charge sheet, ‘Arvind Kejriwal has a role in the excise case under Section 70 of PMLA. Arvind Kejriwal, being the patron of Aam Aadmi Party, is responsible for every act done by the party. AAP is the main beneficiary of the proceeds of crime i.e. the income earned from crime.
ED said, ‘Out of the Rs 100 crore bribes received from the South Lobby, Rs 45 crore was used by AAP in Goa elections. Therefore, like a company, AAP is also involved in this crime under Section 70 of PMLA. Therefore, AAP has also been made an accused in the charge sheet.
#ArvindKejriwal: The ED has zero evidence against AAP and CM Kejriwal, and this excise policy case is all BJP’s witch-hunt: @akashmuni01
BJP’s @rpsinghkhalsa counters @RShivshankar | #TheHardFacts #AAP #ArvindKejiwal #ED #excisepolicycase #InterimBail pic.twitter.com/17Nlc0E7uM
— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 12, 2024
In the charge sheet, ED said, ‘Arvind Kejriwal had full knowledge about the proceeds of crime and was involved in it. This money was used in Goa elections. Arvind Kejriwal is the national coordinator of the party; hence the entire responsibility for this lies with Arvind Kejriwal.
According to the charge sheet, ‘Vijay Nair, who has a big role in the liquor policy, is very close to Arvind Kejriwal and was working on the instructions of Kejriwal. Sameer Mahendru told during interrogation that Vijay Nair had told him that the whole brain behind the excise policy was is Arvind Kejriwal.
What is this Section 70?
Section 70 of PMLA is imposed to investigate money laundering done by companies. It says that when a company commits money laundering, every person who was in charge or responsible of that company at the time of the offense will also be considered guilty and action will be taken against him.
However, there is also a provision in this section that a person will not be prosecuted if he can prove that money laundering took place without his knowledge or that he tried his best to stop it.
An exception has also been added to this section. According to this, the company is also a separate legal entity; hence, its employees or the persons running it can also be prosecuted independently.
Kejriwal has got bail in the ED money laundering case. The second case against him is of CBI. In which his judicial custody has been extended till July 25, hence he will not be able to come out of jail.