Revealed: How Zakir Naik laundered money through his relatives' accounts
Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik had transferred money received by the NGO accounts to his Family.
Bengaluru, Dec 17: A new report claims to reveal as to how did Dr Zakir Naik, the controversial Islamic preacher transferred money received by the NGO to the accounts held by his relatives. According to the Economic Offences Wing, it was found that the money which came into the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) was moved into accounts held by his relatives and later routed through some companies. The Enforcement Directorate has also sought a reply from the National Investigation Agency regarding information on the financial transactions of Zakir Naik's NGO.
The ED will now go deep into the money trail and also look whether some companies were floated to launder money that was received by the IRF. The manner in which the money has moved from the IRF to accounts of family members indicates a text book style of money laundering, the ED official said while also adding that the matter would be probed further.
Gulf
funding:
The
findings
by
the
Economic
Offences
Wing
shows
that
a
nearly
Rs
50
crore
had
been
deposited
into
accounts
held
by
Naik's
relatives.
The
funds
had
been
transferred
to
the
accounts
that
were
held
by
Naik's
wife,
relatives
and
children.
The
probe
also
found
that
Naik
had
set
up
a
video
and
television
software
production
house
called
the
Harmony
Media
in
Mumbai.
He
is
also
alleged
to
have
set
up
two
real
estate
firms.
These
companies
were
set
up
between
2005
and
2008.
It
was
found
that
Naik's
wife
was
one
of
the
promoters
of
the
real
estate
firms.
While scrutinising the documents, the investigators found that the real estate firms had not reported any income between 2009 and 2015. Further it was also found that the Harmony Media that was set up in 2005 saw a major growth in the past few years. Naik's wife was appointed on the board in 2006 but resigned in 2013.
Discrepancies
in
accounts:
The
NIA
while
probing
the
money
trail
and
the
purpose
for
which
the
same
was
used
had
found
that
funds
had
been
handed
out
for
conversions.
A
scholarship
granted
to
a
person
who
later
went
on
to
join
the
ISIS
was
also
probed
into
by
the
NIA.
NIA
officials
say
that
the
IRF
had
received
a
large
amount
of
funds
which
were
domestic.
This
would
mean
that
these
contributions
were
made
by
persons
who
had
visited
the
NGO.
Domestic
funding
would
also
include
the
money
that
was
raised
by
the
NGO
through
the
programmes
it
conducted.
This
would
be
a
very
difficult
trail
to
find,
the
NIA
officer
informed.
NIA officials pointed out that there was some confusion regarding the funds that the IRF had released to its affiliate, the Islamic International School. This grant of funds does not reflect correctly in the account books and hence needs to be probed further.
OneIndia News