The Aam Aadmi Party announced on Monday that Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor and chief minister of Delhi, will not be attending the Enforcement Directorate’s summons for the sixth time, citing that the summons are deemed as “illegal”. The party emphasized that the ED should await the court’s decision instead of persistently issuing summonses to Arvind Kejriwal. This will mark the sixth time that Arvind Kejriwal will be skipping the ED summons in relation to the money laundering investigation concerning irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case.
The Enforcement Directorate had taken the matter to a city court after Kejriwal failed to appear for multiple summonses. Last Saturday, the court granted Arvind Kejriwal an exemption from personal appearance for that day in connection with the complaint lodged by the central agency. Arvind Kejriwal’s legal representative submitted an application stating that the Budget Session of the Delhi assembly had commenced on February 15 and would continue until the first week of March. The Delhi chief minister expressed his intention to physically attend the court on the upcoming hearing date on March 16.
On February 2, Arvind Kejriwal once again failed to appear for the ED’s summons, marking the fifth time he has done so. This comes after he had also missed the fourth summons on January 18.
The party justified Kejriwal’s absence during the fifth summons by calling it “unlawful.”
The ED stated that they needed to record Kejriwal’s statement regarding the case, focusing on matters such as policy formulation, pre-finalization meetings, and allegations of bribery.
In the sixth charge sheet submitted on December 2, 2023, which named AAP leader Sanjay Singh and his associate Sarvesh Mishra, the ED alleged that the AAP utilized kickbacks amounting to ₹45 crore, obtained through the policy, for their assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022.