Havala operator Hasan Ali disappears
gunaah.com
By: Neel S
Fifty-six year old Pune based businessman and a stud farm owner Syed Hasan Ali Khan, who has been accused of making three fake passports and of being involved in a Rs 10,000 crore hawala racket, has been declared a proclaimed absconder by the Bhoiwada court on April 30, 2008 after he failed to turn up. Despite two warrants issued against him by the court the police failed to trace him.
On Wednesday, police admitted they feared that Hasan Ali had fled the country via Nepal by using one of his fake passports. Police officials have been trying to trace Ali for the past three months.
Ali is wanted by Pune police after a joint raid by Income-Tax department (IT) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January 2007.
The fake passport case registered in February 2008, is being investigated by Worli police. Regional passport office (RPO) has registered a complaint with Worli police, alleging that Ali has procured three fake passports from Hydrabed, Patna and Mumbai. Ali has also made two separate applications for fresh passports from Chandigarh and Guwahati.
Ali faces charges for cheating under the Indian Penal Code and section 12 of the passport Act, which deals in cases in which false information have been furnished to procure a passport.
The cops are now questioning his family members including his wife, who is based in Pune.
As per law, after a person is declared a proclaimed offender, police have to attach his/her property. However, when officials began to identify Ali’s property across India, they found that only five percent of the assets were in his name and the rest were in the name of his wife and two children.
Police said that Ali is believed to own large bank accounts in Switzerland, UAE and UK. He is also suspected to have stashed huge amounts of money in Swiss bank accounts.
Officials also said Ali’s friend, Switzerland hotelier Philip Anandraj, was suspected to be the man who knew about his foreign transactions. But neither the I-T department nor Enforcement Directorate officials were willing to say if Anandraj's statement had also been recorded after Ali was questioned by them in 2007.
Anandraj was in Ali’s duplex flat when I-T personnel had raided the place in January 2007.
Swiss bank accounts details were allegedly recovered from a laptop in Ali’s house. The probe was widened after the ED came in and other foreign accounts were also being investigated, officials said.
Ali is believed to hold 10 Swiss bank accouts and the enforcement directorate is investigating links with billionaire Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
Syed Hasan Ali at the centre of a major money-laundering racket also has a history of several petty criminal cases in Hyderabad before he moved to Pune several years ago.
A total of seven criminal cases, including those of cheating and forgery were registered against Ali in the early 1990’s.
According to the investigating agencies, Hasan Ali’s wealth is believed to be in the region of 35,000 crore and most of it is uncounted. Ali owns a stud farm, pedigree horses and also trades in thoroughbreds. He also owns two Mrecs, has property in Pune and Mumbai. He has the friends among the rich and famous and shuttles between the two cities in his limo in the racing season. |
