Black money: More proof of Hasan Ali's $8bn foreign stash

MUMBAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have found documents that show Hasan Ali Khan transfered $700,000 (over Rs 3 crore) from his account in Sarasin Bank in Switzerland to the Barclays Bank account of S K Financial Services UK, through Citi Bank (New York), the ED said in its remand application in court on Tuesday.

The directorate also said that documents seized by income tax authorities reveal that Khan, who’s at the centre of a multi-agency probe into tax evasion and terror links, ‘‘had huge funds in his accounts to the extent of $800,04,53,000 with banks outside India’’ .

This paper reported in its Tuesday edition that investigating agencies were focussed on a $700,000 transaction.

This is not the first time the $8 billion (over Rs 36,000 crore) figure has been quoted —- as far back as 2007 and 2008, The Times of India front-paged a series of reports, including a lead on March 9, 2007 headlined “This billionaire for real? Pune Stud Farm Owner Allegedly Has Rs 35,000 Cr In Swiss A/cs” and another one on December 31, 2008, saying the ED had issued a showcause notice to Khan for “unauthorized dealing of $8 billion” .

The ED’s remand application linking Khan with international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi is also a virtual repeat of its 2008 notice. Stating that the statement of an associate of Khan revealed Khan’s involvement with Khashoggi, the ED on Tuesday said “this requires intensive probe as it has a bearing on national security” .

ED officials said that Khan denied any knowledge of the $700,000 transaction during his questioning in January 2007 and January 2009. But ED’s investigations overseas confirmed the transaction. ED officials said that this was one of the factors that led to Khan’s arrest around the midnight of Monday/Tuesday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

ED produced Khan in principal sessions judge M L Tahaliyani’s court on Tuesday afternoon. In the morning, JJ Hospital doctors kept him under observation after he complained of blood pressure. The judge will hear ED’s application for custody on Wednesday as he wanted to decide whether his court or the magistrate’s court had the powers to pass an order in a PMLA case.

On Khan’s Khashoggi connection, the ED said it had found a document that Khan, along with his associate Kashinath Tapuriah, had got notarized in London; this document was then given to Phillip Anandraj, a hotelier, to be handed over to Prabhu Guptra, director, Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre , which is linked to UBS, the Swiss banking giant. The document “contains the linkages of Ali with Khashoggi” , the ED claimed.

In the searches at Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkota and Gurgaon on Monday, ED officials seized laptops and documents. ‘‘ Investigations clearly show that Khan and his associates have not disclosed the true extent of their involvement and external verifications have provided fresh evidence that require intensive probe,’’ ED’s remand application said.