ED chargesheet against AAP's Satyendar Jain, ex-DJB officials in sewage plant corruption case

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) The ED has filed a chargesheet against former Delhi minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain, three ex-Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials and some others in a case related to alleged corruption in awarding tenders for sewage treatment plants in 2022, the agency said on Monday.

The prosecution complaint has been filed before a Delhi court on December 6.

The Enforcement Directorate has sought prosecution of the 14 accused entities under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an official told PTI.

Those named as accused in the chargesheet include Jain (61), former DJB CEO Udit Prakash Rai, ex-DJB member Ajay Gupta, former DJB chief engineer Satish Chandra Vashishth, private persons like Vinod Chauhan and Nagendra Yadav, Hyderabad-based company Euroteck Environmental Pvt Ltd., its MD Raja Kumar Kurra, and some others, the agency said in a statement.

Jain was the DJB chairman and Delhi water minister when the tenders valued at Rs 1,943 crore were awarded to various joint venture entities in October 2022, which in-turn, subcontracted the work to the Hyderabad firm.

The AAP leader, who also held portfolios like Health, Industries, Power, PWD, Home and Urban Development in the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government, was questioned by the ED as part of this investigation and his statement was recorded. Jain has denied any wrongdoing.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said it will fight the case in the court and will emerge victorious as it alleged that the Centre and the BJP-led Delhi government were engaged in vindictive politics.

"ED’s own statement negates the locus standi of this case; it claims the matter pertains to October 2022, even though Satyendar Jain had already been arrested in May 2022 by the ED itself and was minister without portfolio at that time," the party said in a statement.

This is the third money laundering investigation in which ED is probing the role of Jain.

He was arrested by the agency in 2022 and later chargesheeted in an alleged hawala transactions and possession of disproportionate assets case. Recently, the ED booked him in an alleged classroom construction scam along with former deputy CM and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.

The investigation has "concluded" that Jain and the other accused were "involved in/have assisted in generation, acquisition, concealment, possession and use of proceeds of crime worth Rs 17.70 crore".

The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Delhi anti-corruption branch (ACB) against the Hyderabad company and others alleging a scam in the DJB in the name of augmentation of 10 sewage treatment plants (STPs) at Pappankala, Nilothi, Najafgarh, Keshopur, Coronation Pillar, Narela, Rohini and Kondli.

According to the ACB, only three joint venture companies participated in the four tenders issued.

Probe found, the ED alleged, that Kurra (MD of the Hyderabad firm) got the terms and conditions of the DJB tender "manipulated" through officials of DJB and private persons such as Nagendra Yadav and others, making the tender restrictive to the usage of 'IFAS (Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge) technology' only, thereby enabling his company to become the sole supplier of technology for the said tender.

The ED claimed that Kurra and his associates paid "bribe" of Rs 6.73 crore through banking channels/cash which is nothing but "proceeds of crime" under the PMLA, 2002.

"The bribe was paid through banking transactions by issuing bogus invoices/advances to obfuscate the payments and also through cash by hawala channels," it added.

These acts, as per the agency, resulted in "undue" profit of Rs 9.96 crore accruing to the accused company, which is also proceeds of crime under the PMLA.

Last week, the ED also attached assets worth Rs 15.36 crore of some accused in the case. PTI NES MHS KVK KVK