New Delhi: An Indian businessman accused of
terror financing by Homeland Security of the US was today
booked by Enforcement Directorate for running an alleged
hawala operation to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.
Jain's residence was searched by sleuths of Enforcement
Directorate during which they claimed to have recovered an
unaccounted cash of Rs 60 lakh from his residence in Pitampura
of North Delhi, official sources said.
They said the searches were carried out on eight premises
of Jain, who was accused of being a mastermind hawala dealer.
His operations are believed to be spread over Nigeria, Italy,
Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Bolivia, Congo and Cooks Island
among many other countries.
Jain, booked under Foreign Exchange Management Act, was
arrested by Dubai police along with his associate in 2007 as
part of their crackdown on money launderers following inputs
from Homeland Security and UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency
that he was allegedly involved in laundering drug money for
various terror groups.
The ED also claimed that Jain along with his brothers
Bimal and Satpal used to undertake hawala operations for
underworld don and global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and even
for Al-Qaeda.
Jain or his brothers was not immediately available for
comment.
Besides the Rs 60 lakh, the ED also claimed to have found
foreign currency worth a little over Rs three lakh, documents
showing foreign bank accounts, unaccounted investment and
hawala transactions worth several thousand crore of rupees.
Papers showing transactions of several crores of rupees
with different Pakistan and Afghanistan based persons and
entities were also found and seized, the ED said.
It was also alleged that Jain has been operating a
worldwide network of money laundering for organised group of
all ethnicities and a range of criminality including drug
trafficking and fraud.
The ED claimed that that Jain was working in tandem with
a large number of other hawala operators based in Delhi and
other places in India and abroad.
It was also alleged that Jain was using certain companies
and accounts in New York for depositing proceeds of crime
(drug money) and transferring the funds so generated illegally
to drug barons in locations such as Turkey.
The ED has already identified about 40 front companies
used by Jain for his money laundering activities with more
companies suspected to have being set up by him, sources said.
Jain, who also owns a copper mine in Congo, had moved to
India six months ago. In his statement given to ED, Jain is
alleged to have admitted to send telegraphic transactions for
a large number of importers and exporters in India and abroad.
Earlier in 2006, Italian authorities in collaboration
with US Drug Enforcement Administration and SOCA had first
come to know about Jain's activities through a sting operation
called "Operation Khyber Pass".
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, September 25, 2009, 18:32