Mumbai:
Businessman Hasan Ali is passing the buck. Or in his case, the eight billion bucks he's been arrested for hoarding in foreign bank accounts. Mr Ali said the money actually belong to his business associate, Kashinath Tapuriah.
Mr Ali also says that his life is in danger because he has shared details of Mr Tapuriah's financial malpractices with investigators from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
''There is an apprehension that there is a threat to his life from Mr Tapuriah. Because certain transactions entered between them funded from the foreign bank has been revealed and disclosed to the ED and that is the main reason,'' Mr Ali's lawyer, IP Bagaria, said today.
While Mr Ali was arrested on the 17th of this month, Mr Tapuriah, who is 74 and lives in Kolkata, was arrested yesterday for helping Mr Ali with his money-laundering business.
Hasan Ali, a stud-farm owner, was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a Mumbai court today. He has been charged with violating foreign exchange laws, money-laundering and tax evasion. He's also being investigated for links to international arms dealer Adnan Khashhogi, based on documents recovered from his home in Pune during recent raids.
In recent years, the two men have travelled together abroad. But the extensive scrutiny of Mr Ali's finances, ordered by the Supreme Court, has forced them to reassess their relationship. In his version of events to the Enforcement Directorate, Mr Tapuriah has characterised himself as the victim and said that he regrets having known Hasan Ali.
Investigators, however, say that searches at Mr Tapuriah's home and office have produced documents that show that he accompanied - and often funded - Mr Ali's trips to places like Dubai, Switzerland and London, where Mr Ali reportedly operates different accounts for his undeclared wealth. The Enforcement Directorate has also said that Mr Tapuriah helped Mr Ali to acquire a series of fake passports. In 1997, Mr Ali allegedly used one of these passports to journey to Singapore with Mr Tapuriah. He opened a bank account there and transferred the power of attorney to Mr Tapuriah, who went on to operate that account for him
The Income Tax department wants Mr Ali to pay a penalty of 70,000 crores for tax evasion. Mr Tapuriah has a similar problem. He's been asked to pay 591 crores against his own income, and another 20,000 crores for taxes accrued in his wife's name.