New Delhi:
Arrested AAP MP Sanjay Singh was allegedly involved in creating a special purpose purpose for laundering 'proceeds of crime' allegedly generated from the activities arising out of the changes in excise policy in Delhi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said ) argued before the Delhi High Court.
Mr Singh was arrested in connection with a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise tax 'scam'.
The ED stated that Mr Singh was involved in acquiring, possessing, concealing, distributing and utilizing proceeds of crime arising out of the liquor scam in Delhi covering the policy period 2021-2022.
The ED's allegations have been included in the affidavit filed in response to Mr Singh's bail plea in the money laundering case.
The Rajya Sabha member, who was arrested by the ED on October 4 last year, has challenged the court's December 22 order rejecting his bail plea in the money laundering case.
The case was presented before Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma on Tuesday. It is now listed for Wednesday due to unavailability of ED counsel.
In its affidavit, the investigating agency said that during the investigation, it came to light that Mr Singh is a key conspirator in the alleged scam and that he was closely associated with some suspects or suspects in the case, businessmen Dinesh Arora and Amit Arora.
“…it is clear that Sanjay Singh was involved in creating a special purpose vehicle (M/s Aralias Hospitality Pvt Ltd) to launder the proceeds of crime allegedly generated from the business arising out of the policy changes as masterminded by him and his co-conspirators. Moreover, Sanjay Singh was then involved in acquiring, possessing, concealing, distributing and utilizing the proceeds of crime arising out of the liquor racket in Delhi with respect to the policy period of 2021-2022,” said the report.
The agency further alleged that the AAP leader has illegally obtained money or kickbacks, which are proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy scam (2021-2022), and has also played a role in conspiracy with others.
The investigation revealed that Mr Singh received Rs 2 crore proceeds from crime, ED said.
It says that Mr Singh has been in possession of certain confidential documents relating to the investigation of this case, which are not in the public domain.
During the search conducted at his premises on October 4, 2023, certain confidential documents were recovered, which are printouts of images taken in the ED office and obtained illegally, the report said.
Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing on behalf of Mr Singh, had submitted that the senior AAP leader has been in custody for the past three months and he has not been assigned any role in the predicate offence.
He had said that Mr Singh was arrested after the ED's “star witness” gave a statement.
The ED has alleged that Mr Singh played a key role in formulating and implementing the now abolished excise policy, which allegedly benefited certain liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, for monetary reasons.
The court had noted that he was connected with the “proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 2 crore” and that the case against him was “genuine”.
The case pertains to alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the city government's excise policy for 2021-2022, which was later scrapped.
On the recommendation of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, the CBI registered an FIR over the alleged corruption.
The court had said that the Enforcement Directorate's “basic case” had been “approved” by the Supreme Court, which had also “endorsed” that bribes or kickbacks were paid for formulating the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-2022.
It had rejected Mr Singh's claims that he cannot be made an accused in the money laundering case as he was not named by the CBI in the main FIR.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)