New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate will
attach an estimated Rs 50 crore of assets of Pune stud farm
owner and alleged tax defaulter Hasan Ali Khan and his
Kolkata-based associate Kashinath Tapuriah in a money
laundering case.
The Adjudicating Authority of the agency based here
recently endorsed an order of ED`s Mumbai office in this
regard, paving way for attachment of the duo`s immovable
properties in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi and other assets, agency
sources said.
As per the procedure, a regional unit of ED has to get
endorsed its attachment order under Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA) from the Adjudicating Authority.
The attachment order, according to the sources, includes
Ali`s high-end imported cars, including Mercedes and Porche, a
flat in Pune`s posh Koregaon Park area and a residential
building in Mumbai besides Tapuriah`s property on Prithviraj
Road in Delhi.
Khan, accused of money laundering, has a Rs 62,000 crore
tax liability and penalty proceedings are pending against him.
The total pending tax demand against him and his associates
has been pegged at Rs 89,000 crore by the Income Tax
Department.
Under the PMLA, the ED has powers to attach properties of
a person as "proceeds of crime" to obtain the amount that has
been laundered, the sources said.
Khan and Tapuriah are now lodged in jail under judicial
custody in Mumbai after they were arrested by the agency
earlier this year for alleged contravention of anti-money
laundering laws in India and abroad.
The I-T department has raised a tax demand (without
penalty) of Rs 50,329 crore against Khan, Rs 49 crore against
his wife Rheema Hasan Ali Khan, Rs 591 crore against Tapuriah,
Rs 20,540 crore against Tapuriah`s wife Chandrika and a Rs 336
crore against a business firm floated by Tapuriah -- R M
Investment and Trading Company Private Limited.
PTI
