The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on 3rd April accepted the prosecution complaint submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Jal Board tender money laundering case. The move could result in creating further challenges for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration. The agency arrested Kejriwal on 21st March in connection to the excise policy scam.
Delhi Jal board money laundering case | Delhi's Rouse Avenue court takes cognizance of chargesheet filed by the ED in the case, lists matter for hearing for tomorrow. The court issued summons to Devender Mittal and Tejinder Pal Singh to appear before the court and also issued a…
— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2024
“From the material placed on record, it appears that all the accused persons/Company are either directly or indirectly found to be indulged or knowingly assisted or have been a party to or actually involved in the process or activities relating to the relation of the proceeds of crime or its concealment, possession, acquisition, use and projecting or claiming the same as untainted property. In the opinion of the court, there is sufficient material on record to proceed against the accused persons for the charges mentioned against them in the complaint.” Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Bhupinder Singh pronounced will reading the order.
Special Public Prosecutors (SPP) Manish Jain and Advocate Ishan Baisla represented the ED before Special CBI Judge Bhupinder Singh while Advocate Nagesh Kumar Behl on behalf of the accused contractor. Attorney Behl contended before the Special CBI Judge that the ED could only become involved if there was a scheduled offence but in this case, it was only based on a CBI-filed FIR (First Information Report).
Additionally, he claimed in the remand request that the ED had purposefully misled the court by leaving out the dates of alleged transactions with Jagdish Kumar Arora. All of the accused who were not apprehended during the probe have now been summoned by the court on 4th April. A production warrant was also issued by the court, requiring the accused who were captured in the case to appear in court on the same day.
Delhi Jal Board money laundering scam
The Delhi Jal Board’s tender awarding method reportedly involved money laundering. Among those named in the ED’s chargesheet are Jagdish Kumar Arora, Anil Kumar Aggarwal and chartered accountant Tajendra Singh. Jagdish Arora and Anil Aggarwal were taken into custody by the agency on 31st January last year.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, NKG Infrastructure Limited was given the flow meter contract by Jagdish Kumar Arora, the former Chief Engineer of Delhi Jal Board, at an “inflated cost” of Rs 38 crore. The ED discovered throughout the inquiry that M/S NKG Infrastructure Ltd submitted falsified or misleading documents to secure the bid. It has been also revealed that Jagdish Kumar Arora knew the company didn’t match the technical requirements for the tender. Moreover, the ED disclosed that Anil Kumar Aggarwal’s sole proprietorship, M/S Integral Screws Ltd, was the recipient of the assignment subcontracted by M/S NKG Infrastructure Ltd.
It was also observed that only about Rs 14 crore of the Rs 24 crore payment that the Delhi Jal Board obtained was utilized for the contract work and the remaining amount was either misappropriated or spent as bribes. The ED further underlined that Jagdish Kumar Arora was paid a bribe of Rs. 3.19 crore, a portion of which he transferred to other Delhi Jal Board officials and the AAP to employ it in polls. According to the agency, Jagdish Kumar Arora, the former chief engineer of the Delhi Jal Board, “transferred” Rs 2 crore in bribe money to his departmental colleagues and the AAP for use as election finances.
The new money-laundering case is the result of a First Investigation Report that was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation highlighting scheduled violations pertaining to bribery and corruption in the Delhi Jal Board under AAP. The ED announced that it had temporarily attached assets belonging to Jagdish Kumar Arora, his wife Alka Arora, Anil Kumar Aggarwal (proprietor of Integral Screw Industries, a subcontractor), and NKG Infrastructure Limited (contractor of Delhi Jal Board) totalling Rs 8.8 crore. The investigation team noted that all of these properties were situated in Delhi.
