Following the Supreme Court’s strong remarks, the enforcement directorate (ED) on Monday detained India's biggest tax defaulter Hasan Ali Khan in Pune for interrogation over the large sums he had stashed away in Swiss banks and for evading taxes running into thousands of crores.
It is learnt that he was brought to ED’s office and will be questioned later about alleged money-laundering and foreign exchange violations as well as his alleged links with international arms dealers.
Searches at his home in Pune’s upmarket Koregaon Park area began early Monday morning by two teams of ED officials and lasted for eight hours. Raids were also conducted on 14 locations across the country, either Hasan Ali's properties or those of his business associates, in Kolkata and Hyderabad, the city from where he hails.
Offices of two of Ali's closest associates Kashinath Tapuriah and Philip Anand Raj were also raided by ED. Tapuriah is the Chairman of RM Investment and Trading Company Private Ltd, which has its office in Kolkata. Tapuriah’s residence in Kolkata was also raided.
In the evening, Ali left his home in one of his Mercedes' with wife Rheema and investigators. His lawyer Ramakant Gaur stressed that Ali has not been arrested so far.
“There is no official word about detaining Hasan Ali. He has been taken for investigation. We are cooperating but we have not been allowed to speak to our client,” the lawyer said.
The income tax authorities have accused Hasan Ali of stashing a huge black money amounting to USD 8 billion in Swiss bank accounts, a charge which he has steadfastly denied.
“The so-called bank account in Switzerland does not exist...anyone who wants that money, if it exists, is welcome to take it,” dared his lawyer. “We have answered ED’s questions. There is no evidence that my client has $8 billion. ED officials have spoken to me and said that they are taking him away,” the lawyer said.
The ED action comes as the Supreme Court has asked for an update on his case on Tuesday. In a recent hearing of the case pertaining to black money on March 3, the supreme court judges lost their cool over the slow movement of investigations by IT ED and demanded to know why Hasan Ali has not been interrogated so far.
Hasan Ali, who claims to be a stud farm owner, although this claim has been denied by Royal Western India Turf Club and stud farm owners' association, describes himself as a dealer in scraps. He is better known for his fancy cars, homes and horses.
In January 2007, the IT raided his residences and came across documents that indicated he had several Swiss bank accounts and billions stashed there. However, the Swiss bank concerned, the UBS, has denied having such an account.
ED officials say that Ali’s scrap business cannot justify the sort of wealth he has accumulated, and there are suspicions about his links with international arms dealers like Adnan Khashoggi, who in turn has terror networks. It is suspected that a great deal of Hasan Ali’s money came from his links with Khashoggi and his funds in Swiss banks are the proceeds from weapon sales.