ED claims ‘blatantly false’, will take action for defamation: AAP

The AAP Wednesday called the ED’s allegations, that a former Chief Engineer of the DJB “passed on bribe money” to persons connected with the party, “blatantly false” and said it would take legal action against the investigating agency for defaming the party. The ED, in a press release, alleged that investigation and digital evidence revealed that the official passed on the bribe money to persons connected with AAP, among others, and that the money was also passed on to AAP as “election funds”.

“We condemn any kind of wrongdoing by DJB officials or its contractors, if proven true. We also condemn the ED’s blatantly false allegation that AAP or its leaders have anything to do with this case. Not a single penny or piece of evidence has been recovered from AAP leaders who were raided yesterday by ED. It’s clear that the Modi government is a big believer in the adage ‘If you repeat a lie a thousand times, people will start believing it’. Over the last 10 years, the Modi government and their mayajaal of agencies like ED and CBI have filed over 230 cases against AAP leaders. Yet not a single one has been proven in courts. This shows their only purpose is to defame CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP by creating a media sensation every day,” the party’s official statement said.

It also alleged the ED was a mouthpiece of the BJP. “… We will take legal action against ED for defaming AAP. If the ED was really keen on tackling corruption and money laundering, why is it that there is no investigation into scams of Modi government revealed by CAG like the Ayushmam Bharat scam or Bharatmala project scam where a km of road was built for Rs 250 crore instead of Rs 18 crore…,” it said.

Earlier in the day, AAP Minister Atishi said the ED had not found anything in its raid on people connected with AAP, in connection with a money laundering case related to an alleged scam in the DJB. Atishi alleged ED officers did not search Delhi CM’s PS Bibhav Kumar’s house and instead “just stayed in his drawing room the entire time”. “Thousands of crores are spent on ED every year so it can stop… money laundering by terror outfits, narcotic rings and any kind of illegality but today, instead of letting it do its actual work, the agency is being used by BJP to topple and end the leaders of the Opposition and their parties,” she said.