Hawala: No books of account after raids at Moin Qureshi's premises

While the value of the seized unaccounted cash and jewellery by the Income Tax (I-T) Department from meat exporter Moin Qureshi is valued at around Rs 20 crore, he has not been able to provide any books of account pertaining to his domestic business.

According to senior I-T officials, lot of papers were seized during the raids on Qureshi's premises but he has not furnished any books of account. " These papers are now being closely examined to establish the extent of tax evasion," the officials said.

A senior official said that the income from exports is quite clear as all payments have to come through the Reserve Bank of India. The annual turnover from exports is a little over Rs100 crore.

A scrutiny of Qureshi's I- T returns had revealed that the exporter has assets disproportionate to his declared income, a senior official said. Apart from houses in Defence Colony, Qureshi owns a sprawling farm house in Chhatarpur designed by a famous French architect. As many as 15 of Qureshi's firms, including AMQ Agro, are registered registered at the Defence Colony address. Another bungalow in Defence Colony rented by Qureshi and being used as an office belongs to the mother of a former Central Bureau of Investigation director who dealt with some major cases during his tenure.

According to officials, while Qureshi knows some Cabinet members because of their Doon School connection, he is also close to Samajwadi Party leaders in his home state of Uttar Pradesh. He has been leveraging his position as the president of the Doon School Old Boys Society. He had shifted the secretariat of the Society from Bhikaji Cama Place to premises to the D- 318 bungalow in Defence Colony. A Doon School alumnus told Mail Today that "now it is becoming clear that Qureshi was merely using his position as the president of the Old Boys Society to further his own interests".

Courtesy: Mail Today