ED summons Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Jal Board fraud. What's the case?

The probe agency has asked Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it at its office on Monday, March 18, and record his statement

Hours after issuing the ninth summon in Delhi's liquor excise policy case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday issued another summon to Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal in a money-laundering case linked to irregularities in Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI) (HT_PRINT)

The probe agency has asked the AAP leader to appear before it at its office on Monday, March 18, and record his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Read here: Arvind Kejriwal summoned by ED in 2nd money laundering case linked to Delhi Jal Board, AAP reacts

What's the case?

The probe agency is investigating the violation of norms and irregularities in two contracts of the Delhi Jal Board. The body, set up in 1998, is responsible for supplying drinking water across the national capital. It also collects and disposes sewage from areas under New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment.

The ED case got its base from a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July 2022, where it was alleged that DJB's former engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora had awarded a contract for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters for ₹38 crore to a company, NKG Infrastructure Limited despite the fact that the company "did not meet" the technical eligibility criteria. It was claimed that the officials favored the NKG Infrastructure Limited in connivance with the officials of NBCC (lndia) Limited for a bribe. The ED then arrested Arora and a contractor named Anil Kumar Aggarwal in this case.

How is AAP linked to the case?

The ED in its complaint claimed that Arora "received" a bribe in cash and in bank accounts after awarding the contract to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. and that he "passed on" this money to various persons managing the affairs at DJB, including "persons connected with AAP". The agency further 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 ₹38 crore, only about ₹17 crore was spent towards the contract and the remaining amounts were siphoned off in guise of various fake expenses," it said.

Read here: Delhi excise policy case: ED issues 9th summons to Arvind Kejriwal for March 21

The ED also claimed that bribe money was "passed on" as election funds for campaigning in the elections. The ED raided the premises of Kejriwal's personal assistant Bibhav Kumar, AAP Rajya Sabha MP N D Gupta, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal and some others as part of the probe in February.

What's the AAP reaction?

Reacting to the summons, Delhi minister Atishi said, "Nobody knows what this DJB case is about. This seems to be a backup plan to arrest Kejriwal anyhow and stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls".

(With inputs from PTI)