Excise scam: Delhi High Court denies bail to Manish Sisodia, Vijay Nair, two others in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court on Monday denied bail to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in the money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. .Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma also denied bail to AAP leader, Vijay Nair as well as Hyderabad-based businessman, Abhishek Boinpally and Pernod Ricard employee, Benoy Babu. .The High Court had already rejected Sisodia's bail plea in a related case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as interim bail petitions. Sisodia, Nair, Boinpally, and Babu were later arrayed as the accused in a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This case arose out of the FIR registered by the CBI..In a detailed order, the Court said that allegations against Sisodia are very serious and the matter has to be visited with a different approach because a deep rooted conspiracy involving huge loss of public funds has been alleged.Justice Sharma observed that the excise policy case is a unique and peculiar case where it has been alleged that the Deputy Chief Minister framed a policy at the instance of some outsiders who were going to be its beneficiaries."The functioning of the government is such that generally it is done in a discrete manner. The outside public has no means to have any access while policies are framed. The policies are framed under the supervision of the political heads by the senior bureaucrats," Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma observes. The senior bureaucrats in the present case are saying that no discussion took place on the material points like the increase of margin from 5% to 12%," the Court noted.The Court finally concluded that Sisodia not only failed to pass the twin conditions provided under Section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, but he has also not been able to cross the triple test for grant of bail. "I consider, in view of the discussion made hereinabove, the petitioner is not entitled to bail," the Court concluded. .It is alleged that officials of the Delhi government had 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 changed to benefit certain traders. Kickbacks were received in exchange for the same, it is further alleged.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 later arraying him as an accused in the case..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 that the agencies are re-evaluating a liquor policy that was formulated by the elected government and approved by the Lieutenant Governor (LG)..The allegation against Nair is that he was the person to whom the alleged kickback amount of ₹100 crore was transferred or delivered by the South liquor lobby. Boinpally has been accused of lobbying for certain liquor businessmen based in southern India. It is also alleged that he was part of a conspiracy in pursuance of which he transferred money through hawala channels to co-accused Nair.Meanwhile, the agencies have said that Babu was involved in the conversion of bribe money into legitimate funds. .[Read Orders]