Excise policy scam: Delhi court denies bail to Manish Sisodia in money laundering case

A Delhi court on Friday denied bail to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in the money laundering case initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam..Special CBI Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court pronounced the order today after having reserved it on April 18. .Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the liquor policy case on February 26. He was earlier denied bail in that case as well. The ED registered the separate money laundering cases based on the CBI one. .In its order running into more than 80 pages, the court said that Sisodia was the main architect and brain behind the criminal conspiracy.The court held that Sisodia was responsible for changing the eligibility criteria of the wholesalers and their profit margins and this was done without without any discussions/deliberations in the Group of Ministers (GoM)."It further emerges out from the above that this applicant was responsible for changing the GoM report unilaterally to suit the requirements of South lobby," the court said.Judge Nagpal observed that the evidence on record showed that Sisodia was connected with the generation of proceeds of crime of around ₹100 crores in the form of advance kickbacks which were paid by the South Lobby to Vijay Nair.The Court concluded that ED has been able to show genuine and prima facie evidence that Sisodia is involved in the offence of money laundering."Seriousness or gravity of the offence and its nature or category, the capacity of applicant in which it has been committed, the manner of its commission and also certain other factors like impact of the offence as well as the possible impact of release of applicant on society etc. are the factors which go against the applicant and force this court to decide against his release on bail in the present case.”The Court, therefore, dismissed Sisodia’s bail application..It is alleged that Sisodia and other members of the AAP connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes.The central agencies' case is that the excise policy was tweaked and the profit margins were changed in a manner that benefited certain traders and kickbacks were received in exchange for the same..The ED and the CBI registered cases in relation to the alleged scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary. The report claimed that Sisodia violated statutory provisions and notified a policy that had significant financial implications.Although Sisodia was not named in the CBI's chargesheet initially, the CBI filed an additional chargesheet on Tuesday arraying him as an accused in the case..AAP has denied the allegations and maintained that Sisodia is innocent.It is Sisodia's stance that the policy and the changes made in it were approved by the LG and that CBI is now going after the policy decisions of an elected government.His lawyers have argued that no money has been traced to the senior AAP leader and the agencies are re-evaluating the liquor policy which formulated by the elected government and approved by the Lieutenant Governor (LG). .[Read Order]