Sources have said that the Centre has given the Enforcement Directorate (ED) the nod to prosecute Aam Adami Party convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case. It has also okayed the agency's prosecution push in the case against senior AAP leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
The Union Home Ministry has given the green signal to the ED to prosecute Kejriwal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for alleged money laundering connected to the 2021-22 liquor scam case. The policy was later scrapped by the then-AAP government led by Kejriwal.
It was a move on the heels of a Supreme Court decision in November 2024 which ruled that ED also would need to receive prior sanction for prosecution under Section 197 (1) of Criminal Procedure Code and which is presently Section 218 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita for money laundering cases, for both CBI.
A special PMLA court in Delhi had stayed framing of charges against Kejriwal after he approached the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court to take cognisance of the charge sheet in the absence of specific sanction for prosecution under PMLA.
Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena last month gave the nod to the agency to prosecute Kejriwal.
The CBI, which has filed a charge sheet under the Prevention of Corruption Act, got the requisite sanction in August 2024 in its parallel corruption case related to the excise policy.
The ED arrested Kejriwal, who is out on bail and named him in a charge sheet claiming that bribes were taken for favoring certain liquor traders for AAP's Goa election campaign. The probe agency had said that Kejriwal was ultimately responsible for funds being used and generated as the national convenor and member of AAP's national executive.
Sisodia was the Excise Minister when this policy was framed and was arrested in the money laundering case.
Kejriwal and AAP are accused of accepting bribes from the 'South Group, an alleged liquor cartel that handled liquor sales and its distribution within national capital area which is purportedly benefited under excise policy 2021-22 designed by the government of Delhi.
Kejriwal and Sisodia are already out on bail. Both leaders have rejected the charges leveled against them and termed the whole investigation as the political vendetta by the BJP on probe agencies.
The two leaders are campaigning now for the election scheduled for February 5 in the national capital. Kejriwal stated that he will file his nomination on Wednesday from the New Delhi constituency.