The enforcement directorate on Friday field a supplementary chargesheet in the money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam, naming the Aam Aadmi Party and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal as accused.
This is the first time a political party is named as accused in a money laundering case.
The ED filed the fresh chargesheet—the eighth in the liquor scam case—in the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi. The agency has arrested 18 people so far.
The Delhi chief minister, who was arrested by the ED from his official residence on March 21, is currently out of jail on interim bail. Kejriwal’s former deputy Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh have already been arrested in the case.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the liquor policy. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
In October last year, the Supreme Court had asked why the AAP was not named in the chargesheet if it had—as ED had claimed—benefited from the alleged kickbacks in the excise policy case.
The top court, however, later clarified that its question was not to implicate any political party but, and was just a legal question.
The ED’s fresh move against the AAP has come as a major setback to the party amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Quoting sources, NDTV reported that the federal agency now can request the Election Commission to initiate the process of derecognising the party.
The agency can also attach the party's assets, including its headquarters in Delhi, the report said.