ED attaches Rs 5 cr assets in multi-crore Surat hawala case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 5 crore of the prime accused in the Rs 5,395 crore Surat hawala money laundering case.

The agency said it has attached fixed deposits of Madanlal Jain in connection with the case that also involves his alleged associate Afroz Fatta.

The ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) acting on the FIR of the crime branch of the Surat Police in 2014.

"Investigation revealed that amounts totalling Rs 5395.75 crore were remitted to companies in UAE and Hong Kong on the basis of forged bills of entry through the accounts of 9 companies in ICICI bank in Surat.

"In this case involving shell companies, Fatta, Jain, Bilal Haroon Galani and others were involved in sending illegal remittances to UAE and Hong Kong from these accounts of nine companies on the basis of forged bills of entry.

"These were shell companies mainly created, controlled and supervised by Jain, using dummy persons as directors/ partners," it said in a statement.

The total attachment in this case is now Rs 14.74 crore.

The ED, in March 2014, had busted a multi-crore hawala racket during their search operations in Surat-based offices of some diamond traders, including Fatta and Jain.

It is alleged that instead of importing diamonds, the duo made bogus import bills, claiming that they have purchased the diamonds from foreign traders.

Using these bills, it is alleged that the duo used to transfer money through their bank accounts. Thus, money went outside without a single diamond being imported in India.