Enforcement Directorate attaches assets of Valley trader

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached the Gurugram property of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmmad Shah Watali in a money laundering case related to terror financing that involved Hafiz Saeed, leader of the banned groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

“ED attaches property at Gurugram worth ~1.03 crore of Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali under the PMLA [Prevention of Money Laundering Act] in the case of terror financing by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa),” the agency, which probes foreign exchange violations and money laundering cases, said in a Twitter post.

PMLA empowers the ED to conduct investigations to trace assets derived out of the proceeds of crime, provisionally attach or confiscate the assets, and arrest and prosecute offenders found to be laundering money.

Watali, 67, is a Kashmiri businessman who has interests in India and the Gulf. Hailing from north Kashmir’s Handwara, Watali, used to run a saw mill before the onset of militancy in Kashmir in the 1990s.

He was arrested on August 17, 2017 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) almost two months after the agency raided his house and business establishments in Srinagar, Delhi and Handwara.

The National Investigation Agency accused him of remitting money to separatists and militants. The Supreme Court in September 2018 stayed a Delhi high court order granting him bail.

The ED case is based on a charge sheet filed by the NIA as part of its probe against Hafiz Saeed.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published: Mar 12, 2019 23:18 IST