A Delhi court on Monday accepted the closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a 2018 case against Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain over alleged irregularities in hiring consultants for the Public Works Department, The Indian Express reported.

The first information report in the matter was filed in 2018 based on a complaint by the Delhi government’s Directorate of Vigilance.

It alleged that Jain, during his tenure as the Public Works Department minister in the national capital, along with other officials, bypassed recruitment procedures and misused funds by irregularly appointing 17 consultants to its creative team.

The CBI in its closure report said that it found “no criminal activity or wrongful loss to the government”.

The central agency said that the hiring was justified due to urgent departmental needs and was done through an open advertisement, which received over 1,700 applications, The Indian Express reported.

On Monday, Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh of the Rouse Avenue Courts, citing the report, noted that the CBI could find no “evidence of criminal conspiracy, abuse of power, pecuniary gain, or wrongful loss to the government exchequer”.

Singh said that the central agency found “no incriminating evidence” to support charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act despite the prolonged investigation. He observed that any alleged lapses amounted at most to administrative irregularities and did not establish criminal intent.

The court added that the CBI was free to reopen the investigation if any fresh evidence emerged.

In a separate case, Jain has also been accused by the Enforcement Directorate of laundering money through four companies allegedly linked to him. He spent 18 months in jail in the case, and was released on bail in October.