ED to probe hawala operator in Rs 1,500 crore laundering case

HYDERABAD: Bhimendra Kumar Goyal, a hawala operator and money launderer who is alleged to have carted away ?1,500 crore to various companies abroad, is now being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
Goyal alias Munna Goyal, who was on the run for several years and was suspected to be hiding in Singapore, was arrested recently and lodged in Tihar Jail. ED officials said Goyal was the kingpin of an international money laundering network by sending compensatory hawala payments abroad for importing undervalued goods into India.
ED sleuths said the accused sent ?1,500 crore worth foreign outward remittances (FOWRs) to companies in Singapore, China and Hong Kong under the guise of importing a non-existent customised software.
He was recently detained under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act and on the orders of the PMLA Visakhapatnam court, Goyal was shifted to Vizag where the ED had arrested him and sought his custody for five days.
Cases pending against Goyal with DRI, customs dept
ED’s investigation was based on an FIR registered by AP police against Vaddi Mahesh and others following a complaint filed by the income tax department.
A preliminary probe has revealed that Mahesh along with others had incorporated 200 shell companies and firms and opened accounts with various banks. Mahesh admitted that he had remitted FOWRs at the behest of Goyal.
The ED officials have also found out that several smuggling cases were pending against Goyal with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and customs department for evasion of customs duty for import of undervalued goods and outright smuggling of goods into India. “He evaded the customs duty on import of undervalued goods. Several bank accounts were used to send hawala payments abroad as compensatory payments for the goods smuggled into India by Goyal. Funds were diverted from one bank account to another and in layers making detection difficult. Entry operators deposited cash using proprietary firms to avoid detection,” ED officials said. They said for effecting a FOWR for importing a customised software, a chartered account (CA) certificate was necessary. “Mahesh and others hired some CAs who issued these certificates for a nominal price. Using this loophole, they transferred hawala funds abroad,” officials said.
Meanwhile, the metropolitan sessions judge court in Visakhapatnam has granted the ED five-day custody of Goyal.