ED submits first chargesheet in Delhi Jal Board money-laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), official sources said on Saturday.

The prosecution complaint was filed by the federal agency before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi on March 28, the sources told PTI.

Four individuals and a company have been named as the accused in the chargesheet -- former DJB chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, contractor Anil Kumar Agarwal, former NBCC general manager D K Mittal, one Tejinder Singh and NKG Infrastructure Limited.

The ED has alleged that bribe money generated from corruption in a contract issued by the DJB was "passed on" as election funds to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. The agency had also summoned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in the case, but he did not depose before it.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in another money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the excise policy for the national capital.

The agency had raided the premises of Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP and treasurer N D Gupta, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal and some others as part of the probe in February.

An FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which accuses Arora of awarding a DJB contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited 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 Agarwal in the case on January 31.

NKG Infrastructure Limited bagged the contract by submitting "forged" documents and Arora "was aware of the fact that the company does not meet the technical eligibility", the agency has claimed.

An ED statement has alleged that Arora "received" bribe in cash and in bank accounts after awarding the contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited and "passed on" the money to various people managing the DJB affairs, including "persons connected with the AAP".

"Bribe amounts were also passed on as election funds to the AAP," the federal agency has alleged.

This is the second case in which the ED has charged the AAP with taking kickbacks. It has alleged that bribe money of Rs 45 crore, out of the total of Rs 100 crore, from the scrapped excise policy of 2021-22 was used by the Kejriwal-led party for campaigning in the Goa Assembly polls.

The agency has said 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 were spent towards the contract and the remaining amount was siphoned off in the guise of various fake expenses.

"Such fake expenses were booked for bribes and election funds," the ED has alleged.

Delhi minister Atishi had denied the charges at a press briefing and claimed that the case was another attempt to tarnish the image of the AAP and its leaders.