NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday filed the fifth prosecution complaint (chargesheet) naming former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 scam.
The charge is that the policy governing the allotment of licenses to liquor traders was allegedly tweaked to benefit the liquor cartels leading to huge kickbacks to politicians and government officials. The scam allegedly led to losses to the tune of Rs 2873 crores the government exchequer.
The ED has been probing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The 271-page chargesheet, along with 1750 pages of supporting documents, was filed at the Special Rouse Avenue court by ED counsel NK Matta. The matter will be taken up by the special PMLA court on May 6. Sisodia is the 29th person to be charge-sheeted in the case.
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During several stages CBI claimed before the Special Court that Sisodia had designed the tweaks in the Delhi Excise policy 2021-22 at the formulation stage as the Delhi’s Excise Minister to benefit the liquor cartels which obliged the AAP and other government officials involved in the scam with money generated as kickback out of the windfall gains the liquor traders made in the wake of the Delhi Excise policy implemented the former Delhi CM.
The agency has called Sisodia a "key conspirator" in this case.
The federal agency has arrested 12 people including Sisodia in this case till now, in which it has said, the probe is continuing.
It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
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The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
(With inputs from PTI.)
