Problems for former CBI Director Amar Pratap Singh seem to be far from over as the Enforcement Directorate has registered a case against him and controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi for alleged money laundering.
In a related case, the ED has also conducted searches and seized about Rs 3 crore, including an assortment of foreign currency, at the premises of a Delhi-based businessman in the posh Greater Kailash-I area of south Delhi.
The ED, which was probing the role of Qureshi for quite some time, took cognisance of the FIR by the CBI, which had registered a case against Singh and Qureshi recently.
While the ED had earlier booked Qureshi in 2015, based on an Income Tax prosecution case, this is the first time it has booked Singh on criminal charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency, in a statement, said it conducted raids at the "business and residential premises of Dharminder Singh Anand and others indulging in hawala transactions in connection with Qureshi" in the case.
It said a travel and foreign exchange firm "owned" by Anand was "indulging in large scale international hawala activities" to or from Dubai, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, USA, China, Thailand, Canada and Australia among others.
"Anand, owner of the companies, is involved in exchanging huge foreign currency without proper documentation. Earlier, he had done hawala transactions for Qureshi which is also under PMLA investigation of the agency," it said.
Officials added after the registration of the new Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), ED's parlance for FIR, the agency is set to expand the probe in the case and delve deeper into the role of Singh, Qureshi and others. It will also probe possible connivance between them and others.
The CBI had booked its former chief Singh, Qureshi, his employee Aditya Sharma, owner of Trimax group of companies Pradeep Koneru and other unknown persons last month over alleged illegal favours being exchanged between government officials, businessmen and other private players.
The former CBI Director was not immediately available for comments. Earlier, he had denied any wrongdoing and said he was being "targeted".
The complaint was forwarded by ED Director Karnal Singh, who had alleged that in the course of investigation in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case against AMQ Group of companies owned by Qureshi, it transpired that the businessman was acting as a middleman for some public servants.
A P Singh, a 1974-batch IPS officer, headed the CBI between November, 2010 and November, 2012.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
