AAP used liquor policy kickbacks for Goa polls: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday mentioned AAP MP Raghav Chadha's name in its second supplementary chargesheet in the Delhi liquor policy case. Manish Sisodia's former secretary, C Arvind, had told the probe agency that there was a meeting held at the former deputy Chief Minister's residence with Raghav Chadha in attendance. Chadha has not been named as an accused in the charge sheet. According to C Arvind's statement, the meeting was also attended by Punjab Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam, Vijay Nair, an accused in the case, and other officers from the Punjab Excise Directorate.

The Enforcement Directorate has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of "using" a part of the Rs 100 crore kickbacks allegedly received from the 'south group' liquor lobby to meet its expenditure for the Goa Assembly poll campaign in 2022. The accusation has been made in the agency's supplementary charge sheet filed in the Delhi Excise policy linked money laundering case. It has arraigned as accused a media publicity company, Chariot Productions Media Pvt. Ltd., and its owner-promoter Rajesh Joshi in the prosecution complaint. A Delhi court took cognisance of this charge sheet on Monday.  "Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd is not only involved in making payments through banking channel but also in cash through hawala network... and the actual beneficiary of these payments is AAP as these payments were used for meeting expenditure of Goa Elections in year 2022," it alleged.

 It said the money laundering investigation launched by it in this case last year under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) found that "a part of proceeds of crime of Rs 30 crore were transferred through hawala network to make payments to vendors for advertisement in Goa election campaign of AAP."  "The payment was made both through banking channel as well as through cash," the ED said.