The Enforcement Directorate said on Friday that Raaj Kumar Anand, a Delhi minister and AAP politician, was charged by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of making hawala payments to China and dodging customs tax of Rs 7 crore on imports, news agency PTI reported. The central investigation agency searched the 57-year-old minister's home in conjunction with a money laundering investigation. The raid began at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and lasted at 5 a.m. on Friday.
The agency stated that it launched an inquiry against Anand and individuals and companies associated with him "on the basis of a prosecution complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence" for violating different provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
"As per the said complaint, Raaj Kumar Anand did hawala payments to China and evaded customs duty amounting to about Rs 7 crore on various imports," the ED's statement was quoted by PTI in its report.
On August 11, a local court took cognizance of the offence, according to the report.
Anand stated during a news conference that the case against him dates back to 2005 and that he done nothing wrong.
"The searches went on for about 23 hours and this is part of the conspiracy to harass AAP leaders. We were harassed since morning," the MLA from Patel Nagar informed reporters after ED officials left his residence in the Civil Lines area of the national capital around 5 am.
On Thursday morning, he was raided at 13 different places in the national capital area, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed to have seized "evidences relating unaccounted business investments and hawala payments sent to China during 2023 from key employees of Raaj Kumar Anand apart from Rs 74 lakh cash and various incriminating documents and digital records" during the course of the investigation.
The DRI is an investigating body that reports to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), and hawala refers to unlawful and fraudulent KYC-based monetary transactions conducted via both banking and non-banking channels.
'2 Agencies Of BJP Are Busy Harassing AAP': Atishi
Following the raid on the house of Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), AAP leaders said on Friday that the BJP was utilising central investigation agencies to "scare and silence" the opposition. During a news conference, Delhi minister Atishi said that during the raid, ED agents trashed Anand's home and harassed his family members, but discovered no evidence against him.
At the press briefing, Anand stated the raid was a ”political conspiracy” and that ”we are being harassed for following truth and politics of work. We are not scared of ED or CBI and will continue to follow our leader Arvind Kejriwal.”
According to Atishi, the ED raid was carried out in conjunction with a 19-year-old case that had been lingering for many years at the Customs Tribunal. "The two agencies of the BJP are busy harassing the AAP. The raid at Anand’s residence continued for 20 hours, his residence was ransacked and his family members were harassed. Raids were also conducted at places of his relatives and business associates,” she was quoted by PTI in its report.
”I want to tell BJP that we are not scared of ED and CBI and prepared to go to jail. They cannot silence us or stop us for working (for people). We will continue to fight against BJP’s corruption,” she asserted.