NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has paid Rs 25.25 crore to lawyers fighting for it in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam case, while its total spending for lawyers’ fee was Rs 28.10 crore over the last 18 months, sources said.
According to Raj Bhavan sources, senior advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi received Rs 18.97 crore of the Rs 25.25 crore, while another lawyer, Rahul Mehra, who has often appeared in jailed minister Satyendar Jain’s cases, got Rs 5.30 crore during the period.
Singhvi received Rs 14.85 crore in 2021-22 and then got Rs 4.1 crore further. Mehra’s payment, which showed as Rs 2.4 lakh in the expenditure list of the statement in 2020-21, rose to Rs 3.9 crore in 2021-22 and currently recorded at Rs 1.3 crore.
During 2021-2022, the amount spent for paying lawyers in cases related to the excise department was Rs 16.09 crore and the same during the eight months of 2022-2023, was Rs 5.24 crore, Raj Bhavan sources said.
The sources further added that before the liquor scam came to light, the total expenditure of AAP government in Delhi amounted to only Rs 6.70 crore, wherein the main component went to the general administration department (GAD) and the health department.