New Delhi:
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain’s bail petition in a money laundering case has been rejected by a city court. He was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate over alleged hawala transactions with a Kolkata-based firm in 2015-16. A hawala system involves two parties transacting money with local agents on their behalf without the funds passing through formal banking channels.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a case against Mr Jain and his family in August 2017 for alleged money laundering up to ₹ 1.62 crore.
The CBI alleged Mr Jain and his family set up four shell firms – companies with no real business – to launder ₹ 11.78 crore in 2011-12 and ₹ 4.63 crore in 2015-16.
The Enforcement Directorate started its probe into the money laundering allegations based on the CBI’s first information report, or FIR.
The arrest had spared a fresh war between Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, a Union Territory, and the central government, which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and other opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao have often alleged used central agencies to harass them.