Money laundering case: Tapuriah's bail plea rejected

MUMBAI: The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court today rejected the bail plea of businessman Kashinath Tapuriah, arrested along with Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali Khan in a money-laundering case.

Both Tapuriah and Hasan Ali are facing charges under the stringent PML ACT.

"The court has rejected Tapuriah's bail application. We will now move the higher courts," said Tapuriah's lawyer Tarun Sharma.

Tapuriah had filed bail application in September last year on the ground that there was no evidence against him in the case and also that he was not in good health, Sharma said.

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Tapuriah accompanied Ali to Singapore in 1997 to operate his Swiss Bank accounts, where black money was parked.

Ali gave Tapuriah power of attorney to use his Swiss bank accounts. Tapuriah is a beneficial owner of M/s Paysons and Autumn Holding having accounts in UBS and Standard Chartered Bank.

According to the ED, it was Tapuriah who had helped Ali procure a fake passport in 1997.

The ED alleged that Khan and his 'advisor' Tapuriah had laundered billions of dollars in foreign banks, of which a large chunk was obtained by Khan through the sale of weapons to international arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi. Tapuriah had also helped Khan in getting some contracts for supply of scrap to some top steel companies for Khan's scrap trading business.

Khan is facing the charge of stashing away billions of dollars in foreign banks with the help of his associate Tapuriah. He is also facing close to Rs 70,000 crore tax demand notice from the Income Tax department.

Recently the court had also rejected Khan's bail application.