The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Moin Qureshi, the country’s biggest meat exporter, here on Friday night for allegedly running hawala trade in the country. On Saturday, a Delhi court granted the ED, Qureshi’s custody till 31 August.
A case against him had been registered by the ED in 2015 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). However, after new information surfaced, the ED also registered a fresh FIR this year in which the ED mentioned the name of a former top CBI officer for allegedly colluding with Qureshi.
“The ED had issued summons to Qureshi in a case registered against him under the PMLA in 2015. He was repeatedly dodging our summons for the past few months. We have also filed a supplementary FIR after getting new information in the same case this year,” a senior ED official told The Sunday Guardian.
Qureshi was using hawala channels to transfer money with the help of money changers.
During the course of investigation, the ED has found that Qureshi was aided by two CBI officials. In the supplementary FIR filed this year, former CBI Director A.P. Singh has been named.
“Last month, the ED carried out searches in two places linked to Qureshi in the South Delhi area after receiving specific information. During the search operation, the agency found substantial evidence suggesting that he used hawala channels to transfer money with the help of money changers in Delhi and Mumbai. The agency also carried out searches in his house in Delhi’s Kailash Colony, from where it seized documents and jewellery,” the official cited earlier, allged.
The meat exporter is also facing probes by the I-T Department and the CBI for alleged tax evasion, money laundering and corruption, among others.
The I-T Department is probing Qureshi under the new Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, as the probe has led the department to a few foreign assets owned or held by the meat exporter and his family allegedly in an illegal manner as they were not declared or reported to Indian tax authorities. The case emerged after the I-T Department first carried out searches against Qureshi and his firm in February 2014.