ED arrests meat exporter Qureshi
THE ED FILED A CASE AGAINST QURESHI IN 2015 ALLEGING ILLEGAL DEALINGS IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND USING HAWALA FOR ROUTING MONEY OUTSIDE INDIA
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi late Friday night in connection with a money laundering probe against him and others.
Qureshi will be presented in a Delhi court on Saturday.
The billionaire has been questioned multiple times in the past by the agency after it registered two FIRs under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
He had been under probe since 2015 when the ED filed a case against him alleging illegal dealings in foreign exchange and using hawala channels for routing money to London, Dubai and other places.
The meat exporter had come under the ED’s radar in 2011 after the income tax began probing him for dodging taxes. Suspected to be one of the biggest tax evaders in India, Qureshi allegedly has close ties to a former CBI director. His proximity to several high profile leaders of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has also emerged during the investigation.
After humble beginnings in Uttar Pradesh with a slaughterhouse, Qureshi acquired several businesses in the 1990s and established his company AMQ Agri which is one of the largest meat exporters in the country.
The Enforcement Directorate said that during the course of investigation certain facts have emerged that constitute omission and commission of certain acts on the part of certain public servants holding high positions in public office in collusion with Qureshi whereby huge amount of illegal money transaction was carried out.
The agency also said that the records collected from the Income Tax department -- BBM (Blackberry Messenger) message has revealed Qureshi took huge amount of money from different persons for obtaining “undue favours from public servants” after exercising his personal influence.
“BBM messages exchanged between Qureshi and the accused persons involved in other criminal cases and also the persons who wanted to seek undue favours from the other investigating agencies of government by getting them off the hook,” the ED said.
“The analysis of BBM messages retrieved from mobile phones of Qureshi and his associates revealed that the Hawala operators were also used to transfer bribe money belonging to government officials to different foreign locations like Paris (France) and United Kingdom,” the agency said.
The agency also claimed that he extorted crores of rupees from a businessman from Hyderabad, in lieu of the help provided.
“He (Qureshi) was found involved in Hawala transactions through Delhi based Hawala operators and the money was transferred to Dubai and then to Paris, London, United States, Hong Kong, Italy and Switzerland,” the agency said.