Kejriwal’s PMLA prosecution will get go-ahead from house ministry
The Union house ministry has authorised the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) in reference to the alleged irregularities within the now-abandoned Delhi Excise Coverage 2021–22, sources confirmed on 15 January, Wednesday.
This determination follows a Supreme Court docket ruling on 6 November 2024, which mandated that the ED should acquire prior approval for prosecution in cash laundering circumstances, just like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), beneath Part 197(1) of the Prison Process Code (now Part 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita). The submitting of costs in opposition to Kejriwal within the excise coverage case had been delayed in a Delhi courtroom as a result of lack of such sanction.
Earlier reviews had recommended that the ED supposed to hunt approval for prosecuting all public servants earlier than submitting cost sheets in its Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) circumstances.
In December 2024, Delhi’s lieutenant governor V.Ok. Saxena granted approval for the ED to proceed with prosecuting Kejriwal. This adopted his earlier suggestion for sanction to be granted to the ED to pursue the case. In August 2024, the CBI additionally obtained related permission to prosecute Kejriwal in a associated corruption case in regards to the excise coverage.
Kejriwal, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court docket final yr in separate circumstances filed by the ED and CBI associated to the excise coverage, is at the moment looking for to have a trial courtroom’s order, which allowed the ED’s chargesheet to proceed with out prior sanction for his prosecution, quashed by the Delhi Excessive Court docket.
A supply indicated that the ED not too long ago utilized for permission to prosecute each Kejriwal and Sisodia. “Officers have been awaiting approval, which arrived only a few days in the past,” the supply added.
