The central agency suspects these properties were investments Qureshi made to park money on behalf of the public servants.
The Enforcement Directorate, which arrested Moin Qureshi on August 26 on charges of money laundering on behalf of public servants, has identified at least seven properties across the UK and France associated with the meat exporter. The central agency suspects these properties were investments Qureshi made to park money on behalf of the public servants.
The ED, which has alleged that Moin would receive bribes on behalf of government officials from businessmen facing probe by central agencies, had earlier said, “The analysis of BBM (Blackberry Messenger) messages retrieved from mobile phones of Moin Qureshi and his associates revealed that hawala operators used to transfer bribe money (belonging to government officials) to different foreign locations like Paris and UK. Moin Qureshi has extorted crores of rupees from a businessman from Hyderabad, in lieu of the help provided.”
Sources in the ED, however, insisted that the agency has got more than just BBM messages as evidence against Qureshi and the government officials.
“There are property trails which we have substantiated to an extent. We are verifying a few things after which we will begin attaching properties,” said an ED official.
Besides, the ED has identified some foreign accounts held by Qureshi. According to the agency, Qureshi transferred money using hawala operators to Dubai, from where it was further routed to Paris, London, USA, Hong Kong, Italy and Switzerland. The agency is investigating these foreign accounts to trace “proceeds of crime”.
The agency is already planning to confront Qureshi with government officials suspected of having had close links with him. This could spell trouble for former CBI Director A P Singh, who has been named in a CBI FIR in connection with the case and had allegedly exchanged various BBM messages with Qureshi talking about cases and asking small favours.
The ED has already confronted Qureshi with six of his associates, who, it is alleged, helped him launder money. Sources, however, said Qureshi has not revealed much of substance.
