Delhi Jal Board 'corruption' case: ED raids multiple cities over money laundering allegations

NEW DELHI: Opening another money laundering probe against Delhi govt and AAP ministers/leadership, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at various locations in the national Capital, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad in connection with alleged corruption in the award of Rs 1,943 crore worth of works for 10 sewage treatment plants of Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
The anti-money laundering agency is probing alleged cartelisation in the award of the tenders and suspected bribery to public servants, including ministers and bureaucrats. According to the case file, three joint venture companies participated in the four STP tenders mutually to ensure that each one got the tender.
“Thereafter, all the three JVs subcontracted the work related to the four tenders to Euroteck Environment Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad. The verification of the tender documents shows that the initial cost of four tenders was about Rs 1,546 crore, which was revised upwards to Rs 1,943 crore without following due process/project reports,” the ED has said.
The Aam Aadmi Party and its leadership is already facing two corruption and money laundering probes: in the excise policy scam and another one in the DJB irregularities case.
During the search operations, the agency seized unaccounted cash of Rs 41 lakh, various incriminating documents and digital evidence. Further investigation is under progress.
The ED’s money laundering probe is based on a case registered by ACB of Delhi against public servants alleging scam in DJB in the name of augmentation and upgradation of 10 STPs at Pappankalan, Nilothi, Najafgarh, Keshopur, Coronation Pillar, Narela, Rohini and Kondli. The four tenders were awarded in October 2022, around the time ED began probing the liquor scam.
All the three JVs companies that were awarded the contract by the DJB submitted the same experience certificate issued from a Taiwan Project. The DJB accepted them without any verifications, ED said.
According to the ACB FIR, the tendering conditions were made restrictive including adoption of IFAS technology to ensure that a select few entities could participate in the four tenders. The cost estimates initially prepared was Rs 1,546 crore but was revised during the tender process to Rs 1,943 crore, it said.
The ED says it is probing the allegations that the contracts were awarded to three JVs at inflated rates which caused substantive loss to the exchequer. “The costs adopted by DJB for upgradation and augmentation were same though the cost of upgrading is lesser than the cost for augmentation,” the agency said.