Indian Hawaladar caught
The Hindustan Times reported ‘One of the largest Hawala networks in the world unearthed’. We have never seen the Guiness Book of Records entry for Hawaladars but as always the summary of the Hawala network emphasizes how vast they can be and how much funds can be funneled across the world without detection.
This week an alleged hawala dealer suspected of having links with the terror ring of Dawood Ibrahim, the Taliban and al Qaeda has been arrested by the Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Sources say Naresh Jain, 50, considered one of the world’s biggest drug money dealers with a daily turnover of $4 million, may have links with some top bureaucrats, politicians and business houses in the country.
“Investigations are [still] at a preliminary stage,” a senior finance ministry official told Daily News & Analysis.
Jain, who has been on the run since he jumped bail in a case in Dubai in 2007, was arrested on Thursday from his residence in west Delhi’s Pitampura colony. The ED had been tracking his movements for more than a year.
Jain reportedly owns 12 properties – commercial and residential – in Delhi alone.
ED officials found Rs60 lakh at his residence, besides documents about benami properties and bank lockers. Several of these documents pertain to his investments in stock markets, airlines and real estate. The ED has booked him under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Jain narrowly escaped a couple of years ago when an ED team raided his premises, probably in Delhi. He apparently attacked the sleuths and fled.
Jain was arrested by the Dubai police in 2007 after a global investigation called Operation Khyber Pass into drug trails from Italy and elsewhere led to him. Investigators from Italy, US and Britain stumbled upon Jain, known in the trade circles as “Patel”. But he jumped bail and started operating from Delhi, and Indian agencies have since been on the look-out for him.
Naresh Jain on Friday evening denied being involved in the alleged Hawala transactions and claimed he was basically a businessman but being unnecessarily trapped in the case.
” I have a factory in South Africa. I supply readymade garments in Afghanistan and Nepal. I talked to people in Pakistan in relation with purchasing rice. I have nothing to do with Hawala or Dawood Ibrahim,” Naresh Jain was quoted by Zee News as claiming.
About a year ago, ED formed a special anti-money laundering unit to track him down. His two brothers are also said to be involved in the hawala business, sources said.
Global investigations, led by the US Homeland Security, had revealed that drug money from around the world was flowing into Jain’s network, with a daily turnover of about $4 million. This money was further distributed to drug kingpins, including the underworld and terrorists, the earlier investigations had revealed. According to Indian officials, Jain could be involved in hawala operations worth Rs5,000 crore.
An Indian official told DNA that Jain has links with the Taliban’s drug cartel, and has been a key player in bartering proceeds from Afghanistan drug trade through hawala.
About four years ago, Jain is suspected to have made a major hawala transaction running into crores of rupees to key Dawood henchmen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a matter which is being probed by the ED.
Preliminary probe has found that Jain had established bases in several countries including the UAE, Nigeria, the UK, the US, Italy, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Bolivia and Congo. He is said to be close to leading business houses in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and other prominent Indian cities.
How to counter hawala? Some countries try to regulate these financial services and make it a crime to operate a hawala network without a proper license. No matter what, we will need to use intelligence led operations to take the hawaladars down that do not want to be seen.
http://tinyurl.com/y8r5o5q
Hawala dealer with terror links held by Aditya Kaul, 9/26/09, Daily News & Analysis
One of the largest Hawala networks unearthed, 9/25/09, Hindustan Times
