Crackdown on eve of court deadline

Tuesday , March 8 , 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110308/jsp/nation/story_13683253.jsp

Pune, March 7 (PTI): Stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan was arrested tonight on money laundering and tax-evasion charges, a day before the end of a Supreme Court deadline for the Centre to list steps to fight black money.

The arrest came after the Pune businessman was detained and quizzed in Mumbai till late tonight by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had carried out multi-city searches at his homes and that of his associates earlier in the day.

“I am innocent. I haven’t done anything wrong,” Khan told reporters as he was led into the ED office in Mumbai this evening.

Sources said the searches covered Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Calcutta and Hyderabad. In Calcutta, searches were conducted at the residence of businessman Kashinath Taparia, whom ED sources dubbed an “aide” of Khan. In Delhi, ED sources said the statement of his associate, hotelier Philip Anand Raj, was being recorded.

Before the late-night arrest, Khan’s lawyer R.K. Gaur had played down the crackdown, saying his client had been taken to the ED’s Mumbai office as part of a “routine investigation” during which he could be possibly confronted with “some documents.”

“Hasan Ali Khan has been taken to the investigative agency’s office. This is a routine investigation. It happens in all cases. The ED searched his premises and now has taken him to its office,” Gaur said.

Earlier in the day, around a dozen ED officials from Mumbai had driven down to Pune to search Khan’s premises in the upscale Koregaon Park area, not far from the landmark German Bakery that was hit by a blast last year.

Clad in a white kurta and wearing sunglasses, Khan was driven away inside a black Mercedes. ED sleuths in two cars followed his sedan. In Mumbai, Ali was taken to his residence in the tony Peddar Road area. The officers found some documents there and inspected them, official sources said.

Tomorrow, the Centre will have to list before the apex court steps to fight black money and act against violators.

In its criticism of the Centre last week, the court had said the government did not have the “will power” to act against those who had amassed black money. The judges had also asked why Khan and others were not subjected to custodial interrogation despite the probe agencies possessing sufficient material against them.

“What the hell is going on in this country?” the court had asked at one point and dubbed the alleged offenders a “pampered lot”.

Asked if there was any link between court’s criticism of the government’s failure to ensure Khan’s interrogation and today’s action, Gaur said: “The SC has not directed anything. There must have been some remarks but no direction.”

Gaur said Khan had not stashed any money in Swiss banks. “There is no black money lying anywhere. Yes, there is an allegation. Everything has been accounted for. There is no such amount ($8 billion) lying in UBS and UBS has also said they have no relationship (with Khan).”

The ED had last week issued a look-out notice to all airports against Khan.