On Thursday (Frbruary 1), the Delhi High Court refused to stay the summons issued to Delhi MLA Amanatullah Khan in Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case, reported Bar and Bench. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Amanatullah Khan, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Okhla MLA in connection with a corruption case involving the Delhi Waqf Board.
The case was postponed until 7th February by a Division Bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Rajnish Bhatnagar, who were notified that the AAP leader’s senior attorney was not available on Thursday. The court asserted that it has not sent out notices regarding his plea or to seek temporary relief for him.
Amanatullah Khan approached High Court contesting the ED’s procedures, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) formal complaint against him. He has also questioned the legality of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act’s Section 50. Section 50 states that summoned persons shall be bound to attend in person or through an authorised officer and shall further be bound to state the truth upon any subject respecting which they are examined or make statements and produce such documents as may be required.
On 30th January, the Delhi High Court refused him immediate relief against the summons after he submitted a request contesting the same, and scheduled a hearing for Thursday. AAP leader’s money laundering case is connected to the reported anomalies in the Delhi Waqf Board hiring process. Allegations have been made against him about his unlawful recruitment of individuals while serving as the Chairman of the Waqf Board. He is accused of violating government regulations and conventions by unlawfully recruiting thirty-two individuals while serving at the post.
The Delhi Waqf Board, as per ED, illegally hired workers, allowing him access to “huge proceeds of crime” in cash which he used to buy real estate in the names of his associates. The charges are made by ED, which had earlier carried out raids on the legislator’s Okhla constituency office in the Delhi Assembly. Three of Khan’s suspected colleagues, Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui were apprehended by the agency in November 2023. The ED has issued a charge sheet in the case against five entities.
The ED proceedings started when the ACB booked Amanatullah Khan in the matter. However, Amanatullah Khan argued that neither the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case nor the underlying offence had a trace of the proceeds of fraud uncovered.
