NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Searches were carried out today at the premises of controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi and two alleged hawala operators by the Enforcement Directorate which has registered a case under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against him.
Qureshi, two employees of his business firms and two hawala operators based in Turkman Gate and Greater Kailash-I area here were brought to Directorate’s Delhi office where they were questioned by the sleuths, official sources said.
Qureshi was quizzed for close to four hours while others were questioned for some more time, the sources said.
They said a total of seven premises, five of Qureshi and two belonging to the alleged hawala operatives, were searched by sleuths under the provisions of the FEMA.
After his questioning, Qureshi did not interact with the waiting media and stepped in his car and left.
Qureshi’s flat in posh Defence colony and his palatial residence-cum-farmhouse in Chhattarpur were also searched by ED officials, officials said, adding few documents and computer peripherals have been seized.
Officials said the searches were launched as the agency was “looking for documents and evidence” in connection with the dealings of the businessman against whom the Income Tax department carried out a similar exercise last year for alleged tax evasion.
The ED has taken over the case after the I-T department shared documents indicating hawala and alleged violations of FEMA laws by the businessman and his business entities based here.
The ED alleged that Qureshi has sent “huge amount of funds” through the hawala route to Dubai, London and few other overseas destinations in Europe. The sleuths were looking for some more black money operatives who allegedly aided Qureshi in routing illegal funds of his and his associates.
Sources, quoting the I-T report, had said instances have been detected by tax sleuths where illegal funds have also been routed to Hong Kong and some European locations through the hawala route which entails skipping the legal banking route to move huge amounts of money thereby avoiding enforcement agencies.
The ED is the designated nodal central agency to probe these crimes under FEMA laws and hence the tax department had shared relevant portions of its report with the agency.
The tax department, in the said appraisal report, had pegged an alleged evasion of Rs 200 crore by Qureshi and his business firms and the report is now with the assessment wing of the I-T department which is expected to issue demand notices to him soon.
The appraisal report was also placed before the Supreme Court by the tax department in October last year.
The case came to light after the I-T department conducted searches on the premises of Qureshi and his firms in February, 2014 and it detected alleged “under reporting” of profits by these business units which are primarily involved in meat processing, selling and exporting businesses. (PTI)
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