No closure report filed against AAP's Satyendar Jain: CBI

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday refuted reports claiming that the agency has filed a closure report against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet minister Satyendar Jain in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case.

"No closure report has been filed against Satyendar Jain," a CBI official told ANI.

The CBI had registered a DA case against Satyendar Jain on August 24, 2017, and filed a charge sheet against him on December 3, 2018, the agency official told ANI.

The CBI was the first to register a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) in 2017 after receiving a complaint from the Vigilance Department of the Delhi government.

Later an FIR was registered based on the findings, and searches and raids were conducted.

During investigations, the CBI said that it had found "recruitment of professionals in a 'Creative Team' in the Department of PWD in 2016." "According to the complaint, it was informed through advertisements that these professionals would be paid between around Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,00,000 as per the 'trending market rate'," the agency said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Delhi Health and Home Minister Satyendar Jain in connection with an alleged hawala transaction related to a Kolkata-based company.

Jain had reportedly floated or bought several shell companies in Delhi. He also allegedly laundered black money worth Rs 16.39 crore through 54 shell companies of three hawala operators of Kolkata.

Jain allegedly owned a large number of shares in companies named Prayas, Indo, and Akinchan. However, after becoming Minister in Kejriwal's government, all his shares were transferred to his wife in 2015, as per reports.

These companies used to transfer cash payments to their Kolkata counterparts and these companies would later, under the ruse of buying shares, "route back the money" to Jain by employing legal means. The companies have reportedly laundered money to the tune of Rs 16.39 crores from 2010 to 2014 to Satyendra Jain. Arvind Kejriwal termed the case to be "completely fraud", while also expressing faith in the judiciary.

"I have personally studied this (Satyendar Jain's arrest by ED) case, it is completely fraud. We neither tolerate corruption nor we do corruption. We have a very honest government. He has been targeted because of political reasons. We have faith in our judiciary," Kejriwal said.

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