Hawala Businessman Naresh Jain Arrested By ED

Hawala businessman Naresh Jain arrested by ED, accused of money laundering of one lakh crore. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Hawala businessman Naresh Jain in a money laundering case involving hawala transactions worth over Rs 1 lakh crore. On Wednesday, officials said that suspicious transactions were carried out during the past few years through more than 550 undercover companies.

Officials said that Jain has been arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is investigating 554 undercover companies, at least 940 bank accounts, and transactions of over Rs 1.07 lakh crore. It is considered the country’s largest hawala and money laundering case.

Officials said there are some big corporates and a large foreign exchange company on the ED’s radar. Whereas, ED is investigating two cases of money laundering against Jain. These cases are based on the FIR lodged by the Economic Offenses Wing of the Delhi Police in 2018 and the criminal complaint filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in 2009.

Jain was also arrested by the ED in 2009 in a money laundering case based on the NCB complaint. This time he has been arrested in a case based on the Delhi Police case. On the complaint of ED, the Economic Offenses Wing of Delhi Police had registered a case of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy against Jain.

Officials said the agency is also investigating at least 337 bank accounts in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. About 970 beneficiaries have also been identified, whose accounts have so far been transferred to 18,000 crore rupees. Several fake documents, mark sheets, birth certificates, PAN cards, and voter ID cards have been recovered from Jain. It was through these that suspicious accounts were opened in banks and masked companies were formed.

According to the agency, the accused were doing this game of money laundering through fake invoices for fake import-export. Jain was the head of all in illegal business. Jain, a Delhi-based businessman, was on the ED’s radar for a long time. In the year 2016, the ED had also given him a notice of Rs 12 crore for the violation of foreign exchange law.