ED slaps Rs 1,200 cr notice against hawala kingpin

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has slapped a Rs 1,200 crore show cause notice against alleged hawala kingpin Naresh Jain on charges of violations of forex laws.

The agency, which had registered a case against Delhi-based Jain under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in 2009, had completed the investigations into transactions conducted by him to and from foreign shores, especially gulf countries through hawala after which the final notice has been issued, official sources said.

While Jain has earlier denied any wrongoing, an accused can appeal against the notice before the Special Director of the ED. The ED had earlier alleged that Jain used to run a company in Dubai and was arrested there as well after it came to light that sale proceeds of drugs, running into several crores of rupees, were credited in the firm's account.

Jain has been alleged by investigative agencies to have laundered and routed hawala money for global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and financed contraband cells and was also arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the past. Hawala entails routing of large sums of money in an illegal way and by way of skirting the legal banking route. "Jain has been served the notice and investigations have found him in contravention of FEMA laws.

The contravention is about Rs 1,200 crore," they said. Officials said the agency's probe has found that Jain and his firms did not comply with laid down RBI guidelines regulating forex transactions in India and hence have violated FEMA laws.

The ED was on his trail since 2009 after he moved his operations here from Dubai where he was running his alleged hawala operation for over 20 years. Investigators said Jain's operations are believed to be spread over numerous countries.

PTI