NEW DELHI, Nov 9:
Making fresh allegations, Arvind Kejriwal today accused multinational HSBC Bank of indulging in money laundering and claimed that Ambani brothers, Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and Congress MP Anu Tandon had parked their blackmoney in its Geneva branch.
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan alleged around Rs 6,000 crore of blackmoney was lying in 700 accounts of the Geneva branch of the bank.
While the bank reacted cautiously to the charge saying that it takes compliance with the law wherever it operates very seriously, the Ambani brothers rejected the allegations and denied having any accounts there.
Goyal, on the other hand, said by virtue of being an NRI he was entitled to have foreign bank account but he also said he did not have any account in HSBC Bank, Geneva.
Similarly Burman brothers, promoters of Dabur India, who have been accused of having accounts in HSBC Bank Geneva, said “these accounts” were opened by the family members when they were NRI and were legally allowed to open such accounts.
“…It is unfortunate that every person having a foreign bank account is being painted with the same brush,” Dabur India said in a statement.
Describing the allegations as baseless and motivated, Tondon, also a former Managing Director of Motech Software, said “you go and ask him on what basis he is making such allegations. I don’t think he has anything to prove this.”
Kejriwal and Bhushan claimed that people who had deposited “small amounts of money” in the bank were raided but “big fish” like Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Goyal, Tandon and Burmans (Anand, Pradeep and Ratan) of Dabur were “let off” at the behest of the Government.
The activists claimed that the Ambani brothers had Rs 100 crore each, Reliance Group’s Motech Software Rs 2,100 crore, late Sandeep and Anu Tandon Rs 125 crore each, Goyal Rs 80 crore and Dabur’s Burman brothers Rs 25 crore in the list of around 700 people having accounts in HSBC as of 2006.
The two activists of India Against Corruption (IAC) also alleged that the UPA Government under Manmohan Singh was “sold out” and it is the “biggest danger” as it is surrendering economic sovereignty of the country.
They expressed fears that terrorists in Pakistan or criminals can exploit the method of money transfer in HSBC for their activities in India.
Though they do not have “official documents” with regard to the businessmen holding accounts, Kejriwal claimed they checked with several sources after receiving an input from a Congress leader, who was inducted into the Government in the recent cabinet reshuffle.
He also provided statements of three persons, whose names appeared in the list and questioned by Income Tax officials, in which they have told interrogators that HSBC facilitated them opening accounts without them going to Geneva.
The money was handed to over to an agent here and whenever, they wanted to withdraw they used to contact a person in Geneva and the amount was delivered in India, he alleged.
“There is no physical transfer of money. This is money laundering. The statements by the three persons reveal that HSBC is openly and brazenly running a hawala racket in India.
“These statements are enough to arrest HSBC officials. Their operations should be immediately suspended as it is a fit case for charging them under sedition and waging war against India,” Kejriwal said.
HSBC said in its reaction that it cannot comment on the specific details of the allegations that have been made, which relate to issues in the past.
“HSBC takes compliance with the law, wherever it operates, very seriously. With a new senior global leadership team and a new strategy in place since last year, HSBC continues to take concrete steps to strengthen compliance, risk management and culture,” the bank said in statement.
Alleging that only about 125 of the 700 persons named in the list were raided, Kejriwal sought to question the rationale behind the pick and choose policy of the Government in excluding the big fish from the raids.
Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance Industries Ltd termed it as “continued tirade of baseless allegations” and said neither RIL nor Mukesh have or had any “illegitimate” accounts anywhere in the world.
“As part of normal business, international subsidiaries of RIL deal with several global banks including HSBC. These accounts are fully compliant with all regulations and are disclosed in their appropriate jurisdictions and in India,” the company said, adding IAC’s allegations “appears to be instigated by vested interests”.
Rejecting the allegations, his brother’s company Reliance Group, also issued a statement saying “Mr Anil D Ambani had no bank accounts with HSBC in Geneva. It is regrettable that such baseless allegations are being made by IAC at the behest of vested interests.” (PTI)
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