New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday skipped the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the third time in reference to the Delhi excise coverage case, saying he was busy with the Rajya Sabha elections and the Republic Day preparations. In a letter to the probe company, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief additionally requested the ED to make clear the character and scope of the inquiry or investigation for which he was being known as and to answer his earlier letters the place he had raised authorized objections to the summons.
Kejriwal accused the ED of sustaining unwarranted secrecy and being opaque and arbitrary within the current matter. He stated he was able to reply any questionnaire from the company if it seeks any data or paperwork from him.
The ED had summoned Kejriwal as a witness within the cash laundering case associated to the Delhi excise coverage, which allegedly triggered a lack of Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer. The company had earlier summoned him on November 2 and December 21, however he had refused to look, calling the notices “illegal” and “politically motivated”.
Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the identical case. The AAP on Wednesday questioned the timing of the ED summons and alleged that the company had not answered in what capability Kejriwal was being summoned – as a witness or an accused. The social gathering claimed that your entire excise coverage case was politically motivated and an try to cease Kejriwal from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Kejriwal stated in his letter that he was held up within the course of and run as much as the Rajya Sabha elections, the place three seats from Delhi are up for grabs. He stated he was additionally fairly occupied in planning and preparations for a number of programmes and capabilities for the Republic Day on January 26.
Kejriwal stated he had not acquired any response from the ED to his complete submissions, the place he had dropped at the company’s discover the vital dimensions and authorized objections concerned in issuing summons to him to look in individual.
He stated he knew about a number of instances the place the ED had given an in depth rationalization or response to any of the queries or apprehensions raised by an individual who might have been issued summons beneath the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). “But in my case, you have refused to even acknowledge the receipt of the detailed submissions made in response to the summons issued to me,” he stated.
He reiterated his agency dedication to the rule of legislation and his unflinching endeavor to render any co-operation or help in any inquiry or investigations that could be as per legislation, honest, simply and expedient.
“However, as stated above, your silence confirms my apprehensions about certain vested interests and extraneous as well as malafide considerations prevailing over any objective, rational, fair or impartial inquiry or investigations,” his letter learn.
He alleged that the information of the summons reached the media earlier than him, as a consequence of which he needed to face media trial. He stated the ED’s non-disclosure and non-response strategy couldn’t maintain the take a look at of legislation, fairness or justice.
“Your obstinacy tantamounts to assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner at the same time which is not acceptable in our country governed by the rule of law,” he stated.
After he was issued the second summons in December, the chief minister had left on his pre-announced programme of a 10-day ‘Vipassana’ meditation course and returned on December 30.
