In a fresh challenge for Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, the Union Home Ministry given the go ahead to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take action against them in the Delhi liquor policy scam case, PTI reported on Wednesday.
The development, which comes days ahead of the Delhi Assembly Elections, will pave the way for the ED to prosecute Arvind Kejriwal under the anti-money laundering law.
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the federal agency in March last year after it filed a chargesheet against him before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.
Slamming the BJP-led union government for the approval, AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said that it will be the first such case in history where the ED will prosecute leaders who have already been granted bail in the same case by the apex court.
“This will be the first such case in the history of the country where you jailed Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Both were granted bail from the trial court and even from the Supreme Court...After 2 years, you gave sanction to prosecute and this is when the elections are near. Their same old routine is to file false cases, defame the leaders of Aam Aadmi Party. But now the public has understood everything,” Priyanka Kakkar told ANI.
Arvind Kejriwal has been accused in the case of his personal capacity as well as his capacity as the national convenor of AAP. The law enforcement agency had termed Arvind Kejriwal as the ‘kingpin and key conspirator’ of the Delhi excise policy scam case.
According to the chargesheet, Arvind Kejriwal allegedly acted in collusion with the Delhi government ministers, AAP leaders and others. The case finds its root to the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy. It was introduced from 2021 to 2022. The policy brought in private firms and companies in the retail liquor sector.
The ED had earlier claimed that AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and hence it can be categorised as a "company" as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.
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