‘Liquor policy money trail leads to BJP’
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), facing the heat of Enforcement Directorate probe that has led to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy scam case, on Saturday countered the probe agency’s “kingpin of liquor policy scam” charge against party supremo Kejriwal and alleged the money went to the BJP via electoral bonds.
Addressing a press conference in connection with AAP supremo and CM’s arrest in the case, Delhi minister Atishi said: “In the so-called excise policy scam of Delhi, the investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate have been going on the for the past two years.”
“In these two years, a question has come up again and again — Where is the money trail? Where did the money go? No proceeds of crime were recovered from any leader, minister or worker of the Aam Aadmi Party,” she said.
She said that Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the same case two days back based on the statement of just one person — Sharath Chandra Reddy. “He is the owner of Aurobindo Pharma, and paid to the BJP via electoral bonds,” she said basing her claim on the electoral bond data put up by the Election Commission as per directions of the Supreme Court.
“Sharat Chandra Reddy was summoned on November 9, 2022 for questioning. He clearly said that he never met or spoke with Arvind Kejriwal and had nothing to do with the AAP. As soon as he said that, he was arrested the next day by the ED,” she alleged.
Her claim was based on the fact that Aurobindo Pharma’s Sharath Chandra Reddy has donated to the BJP through electoral bonds.
At the same press conference, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that after the disclosure of details of electoral bonds, various serious questions have come to the fore.
Citing the data on donations through electoral bonds as released by the Election Commission, Atishi said that Aurobindo Pharma donated crores of rupees to the BJP. The data shows that the pharma company purchased bonds worth Rs 52 crore between April 2021 and November 2023, of which 66 per cent were for the BJP, while the rest were given to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Andhra-based Telugu Desam Party.
Atishi said that Sharath Reddy gave Rs 4.5 crore to the BJP during the implementation of excise policy. After his arrest, he gave another Rs 55 crore. “First, he was arrested, then he gave money to BJP, then he gave a statement against Kejriwal ji, then ED released him, then he gave more money to BJP,” she claimed.
The AAP leader said the money trail of liquor scam went to the BJP not to AAP. “Now, I challenge PM Modi: Make BJP the main accused in the scam. And ED should arrest JP Nadda,” she said.
The data on electoral bonds as put out by the Election Commission shows that Sharath Chandra Reddy paid Rs 59.5 crore to the BJP through the bonds. On January 5, 2022 Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 3 crore which was encashed by BJP on January 12, 2022. Another Rs 1.5 crore was used to purchase electoral bonds on July 2, 2022 which was encashed by BJP on July 12, 2022.
On November 15, 2022, Aurobindo Pharma purchased and donated electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore to BJP. On November 8, 2023, Reddy’s companies gave Rs 50 crore to BJP through electoral bonds. While Rs 25 crore was given through Aurobindo Pharma, another Rs 25 crore was given through two companies -- APL Healthcare and Eugia Pharma Specialities Ltd.
The data shows that during the January 2022 to November 2023 period, BJP received a total of Rs 59.5 crore from Sharath Chandra Reddy and of that Rs 55 crore came after his arrest and the rest during the period when the Delhi liquor policy was in force.
