AAP beneficiary in excise policy, Kejriwal liable: CBI

After the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) too has now called the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) “a beneficiary” of the “ill-gotten” money generated through the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, and added that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, as the party’s chief, is liable for the same.
The federal agency has also alleged that Kejriwal was party to the conspiracy in the excise policy from the “very beginning” and “had a pre-conceived idea” of privatisation of liquor business in Delhi and to divide the national capital into retail zones through auction. The claims have been made in CBI’s final charge sheet filed in July in connection to its probe in the alleged irregularities in formulation and implementation of the policy.
Besides Kejriwal, the charge sheet also names AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak and three others as accused. A Delhi court earlier this week took cognisance of the charge sheet. HT has reviewed a copy of the document.
As alleged in previous charge sheets, out of ₹100 crore kickbacks received from the South Group in lieu of liquor licences in Delhi, ₹44.45 crore was transferred to Goa from June 2021 to January 2022 through “hawala channels” for the AAP’s election campaign.
However, CBI’s latest charge sheet, filed on July 29, says that money paid in cash was suppressed.
According to the statement of the election expenditure submitted by the AAP related to Goa assembly elections 2022, to the Election Commission of India, the total expenditure made by the AAP was only ₹3,49,45,345 out of which ₹2,43,30,760 was spent on media advertisement and party propaganda while ₹21,33,714 was spent on material used for publicising, including posters, banners, badges, stickers, cut-outs, hoardings, flags, etc.
“This statement regarding election expenditure submitted by AAP regarding Goa assembly elections is totally based on the payments made through bank transactions. However, the major payments made through cash to different vendors, assembly managers, booth in-charge, volunteers etc engaged by AAP, as revealed during investigation, have been suppressed,” the charge sheet states.
“As such, AAP is the beneficiary of the said ill-gotten money generated out of the criminal conspiracy and as National Convenor and overall in-charge of AAP, the accused Kejriwal is liable for the same,” it adds.
To be sure, unlike ED, CBI has not named AAP as accused in its case.
Earlier, ED, which is also probing the excise policy case for alleged money laundering, named the AAP as an accused along with Kejriwal under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in its charge sheet filed in May this year while calling it the “beneficiary” of the alleged bribes. The agency treated the AAP as a company under Section 70 of PMLA, which deals with offences by companies.
On the role of the Delhi CM, the CBI charge sheet states that “Arvind Kejriwal was party to the criminal conspiracy of formulation and implementation of the excise policy of Delhi, since very beginning”. “He (Kejriwal) already had pre-conceived idea of privatizing the excise policy.”
“Further, as national convenor of AAP, it was on his directions that money from South Group was diverted to Goa for meeting election expenses of AAP. He is also responsible for the end use of ill-gotten money during the Goa assembly elections as AAP is the ultimate beneficiary of the same,” it adds.
According to CBI, the “South Group” comprises of MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), K Kavitha (daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao), and Delhi businessman Sameer Mahendru, and it controlled nine out of 32 retail liquor zones in Delhi.
Both the probe agencies have stated that their probe into the Delhi excise policy is now over.
The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales-volume-based regime with a licence fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores to give customers a better shopping experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.
The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommending a probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.