Bribe money 'passed on' as poll funds to AAP, claims ED

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday alleged that bribe money generated from corruption in a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) contract was 'passed on' as election funds to the Aam Aadmi Party, a charge denied by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The Aam Aadmi Party, in a statement, also said it will take legal action against the agency for 'defaming' it.

'Incriminating' documents and digital evidence apart from valuables of Rs 1.97 crore and foreign currency worth Rs 4 lakh were seized during the raids conducted in this case on Tuesday in Delhi, Varanasi and Chandigarh, the central agency said in a statement.

However, the statement did not specify what was seized from where.

In its statement, the AAP said they condemn any kind of wrongdoing done by DJB officials or its contractors if proven true.

But the party accused the federal agency of levelling false allegations against its leaders.

'We also condemn the ED's blatantly false allegation that AAP or its leaders have anything to do with this case. Not a single penny or piece of evidence has been recovered from the AAP leaders who were raided yesterday by ED,' the party said.

The agency had raided the premises of Bibhav Kumar, personal assistant to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP Rajya Sabha MP N D Gupta, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal and some others as part of this ongoing money laundering investigation.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first information report (FIR), which alleges that former chief engineer of DJB Jagdish Kumar Arora awarded a contract to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for a total cost of Rs 38 crore despite the fact that the company 'did not meet' the technical eligibility criteria, is the basis of the ED case.

The ED arrested Arora and a contractor named Anil Kumar Aggarwal in this case on January 31. They are in its custody till February 10.

NKG Infrastructure obtained the bid by submitting 'forged' documents and Arora 'was aware of the fact that the company does not meet the technical eligibility', the agency claimed.

The ED alleged that Arora 'received' bribe in cash and in bank accounts after awarding the contract to NKG Infrastructure and that he 'passed on' this money to various persons managing the affairs at DJB including 'persons connected with AAP'.

'Bribe amounts were also passed on as election funds to AAP,' it claimed.

This is the second case where the federal agency has charged the AAP with taking kickbacks.

It has claimed that bribe money from the scrapped Delhi excise policy was used by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party for campaigning in Goa assembly elections.

The agency said that the DJB contract was awarded at 'highly inflated rates' so that the bribes could be collected from the contractors.

'As against the contract value of Rs 38 crore, only about Rs 17 crore was spent towards the contract and the remaining amounts were siphoned off in guise of various fake expenses. Such fake expenses were booked for bribes and election funds,' the ED claimed.

Denying any wrongdoing by its leaders, AAP has accused the ED of targeting its leaders at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party in its statement on Wednesday alleged that over the last 10 years, the BJP-led Centre and their 'mayajaal' of agencies like ED and CBI have filed over 230 cases against AAP leaders.

'Yet not a single one has been proven in courts. This shows their only purpose is to defame CM Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party by creating a media sensation every day.

'By yet again naming AAP without any evidence, ED has proven it is nothing but a mouthpiece of the BJP. We will take legal action against the ED for defaming AAP,' it said.

The party alleged that the agency had stopped the probe in cases that involved leaders who joined the BJP from opposition parties.

'Why is it that ED has stopped investigating corrupt people like Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Ajit Pawar and Suvendu Adhikari just because they have aligned with BJP?' the AAP statement said.