ED: DJB contract bribes went to govt officials, AAP

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) levelled fresh allegations of corruption against the AAP on Tuesday, saying a former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) chief engineer had "transferred" Rs 2 crore of bribe money to his colleagues in the department and the ruling party in Delhi as election funds.

It had made a similar allegation in February in a press statement, saying "bribe money" generated from corruption in a DJB contract was "passed on" as election funds to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The ED issued a summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently for questioning in the case but he did not depose before the federal agency.

In the meantime, the AAP national convenor was arrested by the ED in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scraped Delhi excise policy. The fresh allegation against the AAP was made as the ED said on Tuesday it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 8.8 crore of Jagdish Kumar Arora, a former chief engineer of the DJB, his wife Alka Arora, sub-contractor and proprietor of Integral Screw Industries Anil Kumar Aggarwal and NKG Infrastructure Limited, the company that was given the DJB contract. Jagdish Kumar Arora and Aggarwal were arrested by the ED in January and they are currently in judicial custody.

"Out of Rs 24 crore payment received by DJB, only about Rs 14 crore was spent towards the contract work and the remaining amount was siphoned off/spent for bribes. "Jagdish Kumar Arora received a bribe of Rs 3.19 crore out of which he transferred Rs 2 crore to other Delhi Jal Board officials and Aam Aadmi Party as election fund," the ED has alleged.