PANAJI
Three teams from the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) two zonal offices in Delhi and Kochi have been camping in Goa for separate investigations since past few days. One of these inquiries pertains to serious allegations that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by the now-arrested Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, transferred substantial ill-gotten funds for the 2022 Goa assembly elections.
The ED, during a submission in the Delhi Court on Friday, asserted that money obtained as kickbacks by the AAP was utilized during the poll campaign. In fact, the investigation team claims to have traced a hawala trail of Rs 45 crore received by AAP from the South Group (also implicated in the Delhi excise scam) for the election campaign.
Sources revealed that while the ED was inquiring about allegations against Kejriwal subsequently leading to his arrest, they also visited Goa to record statements from AAP Goa cadre members.
These workers have allegedly admitted to receiving funds from the party’s high command through a private agency, amounting to Rs 70 lakh approx. However, AAP Goa Chief Amit Palekar refuted allegations, adding the party neither received any summons nor were they quizzed.
Other entities on ED radar
In a separate FIR, another team from the ED Delhi conducted raids at nine locations across Delhi, Mumbai, and Goa concerning M/s Dlehman Rea-IT Trade Pvt. Ltd following a cheating case registered by the Delhi Police alleging that the company and others fraudulently transferred Rs 18 Crore from the bank account of M/s Vestige Marketing Private Limited (VMPL) to their own accounts in 2020.
During the search operations, Rs 78 lakh approx cash, foreign currency equivalent to Rs 2 lakh, various digital devices, and incriminating documents were confiscated from the residences and offices of all the concerned involved in the case.
In the third FIR being investigated by ED Kochi against Kerala businessman Muhammed Hafiz, the team raided nine locations across Kerala, Karnataka and Goa spanning three days during which they recovered gold jewellery weighing 1672.8 gms, Indian currency worth Rs 12.5 Lakh, seven mobile phones and various incriminating documents.
The ED initiated an investigation based on FIRs registered by the police in the three states under various IPC sections wherein it is alleged that Muhammed Hafeez and his associates indulged in cheating by impersonation, misappropriation of funds, forgery and fabrication of documents through which they extracted Rs 108.73 Cr from his in-laws. The accused was arrested by Goa Police last year for fabricating the letterhead of the Income Tax Commissioner.
