Ajit Karn
Money Laundering Act
New Delhi: On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate arrested liquor merchant Amandeep Singh Dhall in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case for allegedly conspiring with AAP leaders and others to facilitate profits to the political party, according to officials.
Following his interrogation, Dhall, the executive director of Brindco Sales Private Limited, was detained Wednesday night under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
Brindco is a significant importer and distributor of a wide variety of liquor brands and other alcoholic beverages.
A Delhi court placed Dhall in ED custody for five days after the agency produced him before it. “Aman (Amandeep) Dhall conspired with others and was actively involved in policy formulation and facilitating kickbacks to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its recoupment by the ‘South Group’ via various methods.
“By such acts, proceeds of crime in the amount of 7.68 crore were generated, and Dhall played a role in the generation, transfer, and concealment of the proceeds of crime, presenting them as clean,” the federal investigation agency notified the court in its request for the businessman’s remand.
It was alleged that Dhall played a significant role in the “payment of kickbacks to AAP leaders from its 12 percent wholesale profit,” and that he played a similar role in “coordinating and attending meetings related to the policy (excise) formulation and the meetings of the South Group representatives with Vijay Nair (arrested AAP communication in-charge) and others.”
It was asserted that Dhall possessed the draught Delhi excise policy 2021-22 on May 31, 2021, whereas the policy was published on the department’s website in July of that year.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Dhall allegedly transmitted the bribe money in this case via “credit notes.”
Since October 2022, the agency claims to have questioned Dhall ten to eleven times, but that he “is not cooperating with the investigation and is not revealing the truth by providing evasive responses.”
“Therefore, it is imperative that Aman Dhall be detained and questioned in order to uncover this multibillion-dollar fraud,” it stated.
According to a FIR filed by the CBI, AAP officials Vijay Nair, Manoj Rai, Dhall, and Sameer Mahandru actively participated in drafting and implementing the excise policy for 2021-22 for the Delhi government.
The ED’s investigation into money laundering originates from a CBI FIR.
In its second charge sheet lodged in the case, the ED had attached the statement of another accused, Arun Pillai, who asserted that Dhall “had a thorough understanding of the Delhi liquor market and was aware of all the minute details of the (excise) policy adjustments.”
“Aman (Dhall) explained to them how the market will function and how to exploit policy vulnerabilities to their advantage,” the ED stated.
The ED has thus far filed two charge papers or prosecution complaints and arrested a total of ten individuals, including Dhal.
Also read: Manish Sisodia, Jain resign as ministers over arrests
In August of last year, the excise policy was abolished, and the lieutenant governor of Delhi subsequently asked the CBI to investigate alleged irregularities and corruption involving government officials, administrators, and liquor merchants, among others.
On Sunday, the CBI detained Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.
