The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday levelled fresh allegations of corruption against crisis-hit Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), claiming that bribe money from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) scam was also channelled into the party as election funds.
The federal probe agency alleged that Jagdish Kumar Arora, the former Delhi Jal Board chief engineer had “transferred” Rs 2 crore of bribe money to his colleagues in the department and AAP as election funds.
The Enforcement Directorate said that it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 8.8 crore of Jagdish Kumar Arora, his wife Alka Arora, Anil Kumar Aggarwal (proprietor of Integral Screw Industries, a subcontractor), and NKG Infrastructure Limited (contractor of DJB). All these properties, the probe agency said, were located in Delhi.
The fresh money-laundering case stems from an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which highlighted scheduled offences related to corruption and bribery within the Delhi Jal Board.
As per the Enforcement Directorate, Jagdish Kumar Arora, during his tenure as Chief Engineer, DJB, awarded the flow meter contract to NKG Infrastructure Limited at an “inflated cost” of Rs 38 crore, despite the company failing to meet the technical eligibility criteria.
“Out of Rs 24 crore payment received by DJB, only about Rs 14 crore was spent towards the contract work and the remaining amount was siphoned off/spent for bribes,” the probe agency alleged.
“Jagdish Kumar Arora received a bribe of Rs 3.19 crore out of which he transferred Rs 2 crore to other Delhi Jal Board officials and Aam Aadmi Party as election funds,” it added.
The fresh claims by the probe agency came days after it arrested Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy case. Kejriwal, India’s first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested, is currently lodged in Asia’s largest prison, Tihar. He will remain in judicial custody till April 15.
Source Agencies
