Blackmoney case: Court allows businessman Moin Qureshi to go abroad

NEW DELHI: Businessman Moin Akhtar Qureshi, an accused in a black money case, has been allowed to travel abroad for business purposes by a Delhi court on the condition that he would not visit any country which does not have an extradition treaty with India.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh directed meat exporter Qureshi to furnish a surety bond of Rs 10 lakh and submit his itinerary, giving details of his stay abroad before leaving the country.

The court allowed Qureshi's plea seeking permission to go to the United Kingdom, European Union and United Arab Emirates from February 15 to March 30 to attend business meetings and negotiate with buyers for exports.

"Perusal of the record reveals that accused no. 1 (Qureshi) has been allowed to go abroad earlier also... He is permitted to visit the places mentioned in the application subject to the condition if there is extradition treaty with the country named in the application i.e. UK, any country of EU and UAE for the period from February 15 to March 30 and subject to furnishing of surety bond of Rs 10 lakh," the judge said.

The court also directed him to give an undertaking that he would not visit any country which does not have extradition treaty with India.

Qureshi's plea was opposed by the IT department's counsel who said there was every chance that the accused may abscond or flee from justice. He also said Qureshi should not be allowed to go abroad as no affidavit/itinerary has been placed on record regarding the exact place and purpose of the visit.

Qureshi was summoned by the court last year as an accused in a black money case filed by IT Department for allegedly not disclosing his income of nearly Rs 20 crore.

His employee Aditya Sharma was also summoned as accused in the case earlier and both granted bail after they appeared in the court. The Delhi High Court has stayed the proceedings against Sharma.

While granting bail, the court had imposed condition on both the accused that they should not leave the country without its prior permission.