Hasan Ali income a fraction of Swiss account balance
The balance in the Swiss bank account in Hasan Ali Khan's name steadily increased over nine years from $560 million to $8 billion (Rs 36,000 crore), but the Pune businessmen's annual income during this period was just a fraction of this, documents with the Enforcement Directorate show. Manish Pachouly reports. Account
The balance in the Swiss bank account in Hasan Ali Khan's name steadily increased over nine years from $560 million to $8 billion (Rs 36,000 crore), but the Pune businessmen's annual income during this period was just a fraction of this, documents with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) show.
"We suspect that the money in the Swiss bank belongs to many others, and that Khan is just a front and point-person for them who was dealing with the Swiss bank," said an official from the ED, which is investigating Khan for suspected money-laundering.
Officials from the ED arrested Khan on Monday, a day before the deadline the Supreme Court gave the government to tell it what action it was taking in the case.
The court had reprimanded the government last week for dragging its feet. On Tuesday, it also asked the government to consider booking him under anti-terror laws.
The documents recovered four years ago also indicate that an official of the UBS Bank called Dr Peter Weilly was the portfolio manager for Khan's Swiss account. They also show that he visited India several times between 1992 and 2000 to obtain Khan's signature for various fund transactions, the ED official said.
ED officials said that Weilly came here instead of Khan travelling to Switzerland probably because the Indian businessman wanted to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities.
The documents also show that Weilly got Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi arms dealer, to recommend Khan when he first opened his account with UBS, in Singapore. Weilly was also managing Khashoggi's portfolio.
Although the police arrested Khan two years ago for submitting false information to obtain a passport, they still have not filed a charge sheet, HT reported on Tuesday.
Income tax officials recovered documents and a laptop from Khan in January 2007, but investigators have still not verified the authenticity of the information in the documents with the Swiss authorities, HT reported on Monday.
Finally last year, the income tax department raised a demand of Rs 40,000 crore from Khan for tax evasion, against which he has appealed.