THE GOA CONNECTION…
— The ED has now summoned the AAP Goa chief, Amit Palekar, and others for questioning in the liquor policy case in which Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested.
— The investigating body has charged that Rs 45 crore from the alleged scam was used by the party for campaigning in the 2022 Assembly polls in the coastal state
— AAP leaders have been asked to depose at the probe agency’s office in Goa’s Panjim on Thursday (28 March).
— The ED states that AAP had hired Chariot Productions for its election campaign in Goa.
Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Arvind Kejriwal may have promised a huge “expose” today in the so-called Delhi liquor scam, but the problem for his party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has become bigger — stretching from the Capital to Goa.
On Wednesday (27 March), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned the AAP’s Goa unit chief, Amit Palekar and some other party leaders from the state for questioning in the matter.
They have been asked to depose at the probe agency’s office in Goa’s Panjim on Thursday (28 March).
But what’s the link? Why have ED officials summoned AAP’s Goa leaders in the alleged Delhi excise policy-linked scam? Here’s what we know so far.
The ED summons
On the day that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was challenging his arrest by the ED in court, the authorities issued a summons for AAP’s Goa leader Amit Palekar and a few others in connection to the Delhi excise policy case.
Palekar was the AAP’s chief ministerial face during the February 2022 Goa Assembly polls. The AAP leader later confirmed that he had been summoned by the ED at the Panjim office for questioning in a Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case. He, however, refused to comment any further than that.
It is also reported that in addition to Palekar, the authorities have summoned another AAP leader Ramrao Wagh, Ashok Naik a leader from the Bhandari community and former BJP leader Dattaprasad Naik.
The Delhi-Goa ‘link’
Following the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal on 21 March, the ED in its chargesheet alleged that the Delhi CM and AAP national convenor was the “kingpin” of the case.
As per the ED, the AAP became a major beneficiary of proceeds from the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. Additional Solicitor-General SV Raju, appearing for the ED in the Delhi court, alleged that Kejriwal demanded Rs 100 crore from some accused from ‘South Group’ for the 2022 Punjab elections.
Furthermore, Rs 45 crore from the South Group was used by the AAP in their Goa campaign for the polls in 2022.
The investigating agency claimed that the money came to Goa through four routes, even hinting at hawala.
The ED states that AAP had hired Chariot Productions for its election campaign in Goa. On examining the vendors of the company, it was found that many of them had received “part cash, part bill” payments from Chariot Productions.
For instance, M/s Grace Advertising whose employee Islam Qazi allegedly revealed to the ED that he had received a payment — part in cash. He revealed to the ED that he had allegedly revealed that he was given a Rs 6.29 lakh payment via hawala and he had collected this from a hawala operator in Mumbai’s suburban area of Malad.
The ED further states that Chanpreet Singh, who was an employee of Chariot since 2020 and later joined as a freelancer for AAP’s election campaign, received funds from OML (whose former CEO) of Vijay Nair. As per the ED, this establishes a deep relationship and nexus of Chanpreet Singh with all major conspirators and accused in the Delhi liquor scam, that is, Vijay Nair, Rajesh Joshi and certain AAP leaders and the AAP.