DJB bribes partially passed on to AAP as election funds: ED
The Hindu
Enforcement Directorate alleges bribe paid to AAP as election funds in Delhi Jal Board contract case, AAP denies allegations.
A day after searching the premises of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant and others, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday alleged that part of the bribe paid to award a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) contract to an ineligible company was passed on to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as “election funds”.
On Tuesday, the agency had searched the premises of Mr. Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar, AAP treasurer and Rajya Sabha MP N.D. Gupta, and former DJB member Shalabh Kumar. Some locations in Varanasi and Chandigarh were also searched. The development came days after the arrest of former DJB Chief Engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora and one Anil Kumar Aggarwal.
The AAP denied the allegations and said it would take legal action against the ED for defamation. “We condemn any kind of wrongdoing done by DJB officials or its contractors, if proven true. We also condemn the ED’s blatantly false allegation that AAP or its leaders have anything to do with this case. Not a single penny or piece of evidence has been recovered from the AAP leaders who were raided yesterday by ED,” the party said in a statement.
The ED probe is based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation on complaints of corruption within the DJB. It was alleged that Mr. Arora had awarded a contract worth ₹38 crore to NKG Infrastructure Limited even though it did not meet the technical eligibility criteria.
Based on its findings, the agency alleged on Wednesday that NKG Infrastructure had bagged the contract using bogus documents. The tender was for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flowmeters. Mr. Arora was allegedly aware of the fact that the company did not technically qualify for the bid.
As earlier alleged, NKG Infrastructure sub-contracted the work to Integral Screws, a proprietorship firm of Mr. Aggarwal. After receiving the funds, he purportedly transferred about ₹3 crore to Mr. Arora in the form of cash and through various bank accounts.
“Investigations and digital evidence show that Jagdish Kumar Arora passed on the bribe funds to various persons connected with managing the affairs of the Delhi Jal Board, including persons connected with AAP. Bribe amounts were also passed on as election funds to AAP,” the agency statement said.
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