Hawala dealer Jain tells ED his role in Rs 250 crore UPA era pulses scam

NEW DELHI: A high-profile money laundering accused and hawala dealer Naresh Jain has confessed before the Enforcement Directorate his role in the Rs 250 crore pulses scam of 2007 in which top cabinet ministers of the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government were under scanner. Jain was sent to 14 days judicial custody on Monday after the end of his week-long custodial interrogation at ED headquarters in the Capital.
A multi-agency probe was initiated by the UPA government against Jain in 2007 after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence found alleged violation of a government directive banning pulses export following unprecedented rise in prices. During its probe in the pulses scam, the DRI had unearthed Jain’s empire in Dubai and his connections with Dawood enterprises that used the hawala dealer for investments of his proceeds from illegal narcotics trade in some Indian companies. The DRI also came across involvement of some politicians and ministers in aiding Jain and some rice traders illegally export pulses. The probe was then shifted to CBI.
Jain, interestingly, was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in 2009 on a tip off from the US intelligence agencies for his connections with international narcotics don Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in India for 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai.
He was then extensively questioned by the ED but mysteriously escaped action and had been evading agencies since then despite Interpol Red Corner Notices from two countries, UAE and Italy, pending against him. A probe is also being undertaken to establish Jain’s connections in the Delhi Police which failed to arrest him so far.
The hawala dealer, who was then operating from Dubai, was behind organising backdated letter of credits (LCs) from a Cooks Island bank, co-owned by a Patel family from Mumbai. TOI had earlier reported how Kumar Trading, Al-Khaleez Support Services and Pan Global Trading Company were the three Dubai-based firms that, according to ED, received 60,000 tonnes of pulses worth Rs 250 crore exported from India during the ban period between June 22, 2006 and March 31, 2007.
Both CBI and DRI had earlier found the involvement of Mukesh Kochar, another alleged Dawood Ibrahim associate besides Jain, in the pulses scam. The agencies had found linkages of the Dawood aides with two leading rice exporters of India in exporting pulses out of the country despite the ban imposed by the government. Kochar is known for his alleged involvement in the international betting racket where his conversation with West Indian cricketer Marlon Samuels was caught on tape.