Mumbai, May 04, 2011

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ED-to-file-charge-sheet-against-Hasan-Ali-aide/Article1-693127.aspx

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to file a charge sheet this week in the money-laundering case involving Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan. The charge sheet, to be filed in the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), will name Khan and his associate Kashinath Tapuriah as the accused.

Sources in ED said the charge sheet would include statements of Bihar Congress leader Amlendu Pandey and Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh, among others. Khan, who has been booked under PMLA, is accused of handling $8 billion (Rs36,000 crore) in Swiss bank accounts. Tapuriah has been accused of helping Khan open accounts in foreign banks and transfer unaccounted funds.

Investigations have revealed that Iqbal Singh has known Tapuriah since 1997 when he helped expedite Tapuriah and his wife Chandrika’s passport applications at the Kolkata passport office.

In 1997, sources said, Tapuriah had met Singh four times in Delhi. The ED also found that in 1998, when Singh visited Kolkata several times for party-related work, he stayed at a guest house owned by Tapuriah’s relative.

The agency has dug out information to show that during this period, Singh had loaned Tapuriah Rs one lakh, which he repaid in some time.

“We will mention all the details found during investigation in the charge sheet,” a senior ED official said, requesting anonymity.

Officials said they have also established that the $ 7 lakh

(Rs3.15 crore) in Khan’s Sarasin bank account in Switzerland was from the proceeds of the sale of a stolen diamond. The ED had earlier discovered that the amount had been transferred from Khan’s Sarasin account to the account of SK Financial Service, UK, maintained by Barclays Bank through Citibank, New York. “Earlier we were not aware of the source of this amount. Now, we have learnt that Khan got this money by selling a stolen diamond,” the official said.