Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
After CBI, Sisodia remanded to ED custody in excise case
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday allowed the Enforcement Directorate to take custody of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia till March 17 to interrogate him over money laundering charges stemming from the probe into the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
Sisodia, who was in Tihar after being sent to judicial remand following his questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation, was due for a bail hearing on Friday but had been arrested by ED following an eight-hour long interrogation on Thursday.
The AAP leader was first arrested by CBI on February 26 over the allegations that he and his party have called fake.
Advocate Zoheb Hossain, appearing for ED, alleged that when the excise policy was being drawn up, an expert committee’s recommendations were not considered and the profit margins were changed (from 5% to 12%) in order to ensure some private entities of the alleged “South Group” made a profit.
He also alleged that the call for public opinion on the policy was “eye wash”, and added that Sisodia needs to be confronted with three or four officers who have recorded their statements.
Sisodia, as excise minister, played a key role in the definition of “related entities” being diluted, a move that enabled cartelisation and the allotment of licence to a company called Indospirit, the lawyer contended. This company, he added, was a vehicle for “the recoupment of kickbacks”.
Hossain also submitted that people accused in the case destroyed digital evidence and that 12 mobile phones (with evidence of the irregularities) were destroyed in one year. This, the lawyer contended, was among the reasons why ED required Sisodia’s custody in order to follow the money trail, in addition to his “evasive and untrue” answers.
The remand application was opposed by senior advocates Dayan Krishnan, Mohit Mathur and Siddharth Aggarwal, representing the former deputy CM. Krishnan submitted before the court that ED had not found any trace of money linked to Sisodia. “Let us not forget the distinction between the predicate offence and the offence of money laundering, it is their (ED) duty to show the tracing of money to him,” he said.
“This is about a faulty policy. I can give you umpteen examples of haste in policy formulation. Look at demonetization (referring to November 2016 demonetization by the National Democratic Alliance government). How does a call by government to make a policy is criminal? How is it money laundering?” Krishnan argued.
He submitted that the policy went through several layers of scrutiny, including that of the government, bureaucracy, finance, legal and the lieutenant governor, who raised questions that did not pertain to profit margin or eligibility criteria.
Responding to allegations of Sisodia being evasive, Krishnan, on behalf of Sisodia, submitted: “I can say what I know, I can’t say what they want to hear.”
Mathur supported Krishnan’s arguments and questioned the legality of the arrest, saying ED does not have the power to arrest. Aggarwal also pointed out that the copy of the ground of arrest was not supplied, making the arrest illegal.
The agency has attributed proceeds of crime worth Rs 292.8 crore, which it said were likely to increase during investigation, to Manish Sisodia in the form of Rs 100 crore kickbacks received from the South Group and undue profits worth Rs 192.8 crore to Indospirits Group of businessman Sameer Mahendru.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday compared Sisodia to Prahlad, a king in Hindu mythology, and said Hiranyakashyap, a mythical demon, (the BJP) would not be able to stop him “from the path of God”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, alleged that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was the mastermind of the alleged scam and demanded his resignation. On Friday, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva and several party leaders protested near AAP headquarters and said they will continue to do so till the CM resigns. “BJP workers first fought for the resignation of Manish Sisodia, and now we are demanding the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal because Kejriwal himself is the kingpin and mastermind of this entire liquor scam,” said Sachdeva.
The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business by handing the retail alcohol business entirely to private companies and allowing market forces to improve customer experience and drive down prices.
But the plan came to an abrupt end when the current LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. In August, CBI in its FIR listed Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia as an accused in the case. Sisodia and the Aam Aadmi Party have dismissed the probe as a politically motivated witch-hunt.