M A I N   N E W S

Snub to ED, bail for Hasan Ali
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, March 11
Hasan Ali Khan, accused of being a hawala dealer, was today granted bail by a Mumbai court.

While letting Khan go free, Special Judge ML Tahiliyani of the Sessions Court pulled up the Enforcement Directorate for not being able to establish the offence committed by Khan under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act under which he was arrested.

“I have come to the conclusion that the investigation agency has not been able to demonstrate… that (an offence) has been committed by the accused,” the Judge ruled. The court, however, asked Khan not to leave Mumbai for the next five days and also asked him to present himself before the ED three hours daily for questioning.

ED officials are now planning to move the high court to obtain custody of Khan. “We are trying to understand the order and will be considering filing an appeal before the high court," Rajeev Awasthi, who represents the ED, said.

Earlier in the day, the court noted that papers provided by the ED to obtain custody of Khan were mere xerox copies of documents obtained from Khan's business associate Kashinath Tapuriah. The court observed that the genuineness of the documents was not established.

According to sources, some of the documents submitted before the court supposedly consisted of correspondence with executives of the UBS Bank based in Switzerland over transfer of funds amounting to $300 million from arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi. The court, however, observed that some of these documents were available on the internet and could not be considered confidential.

The Swiss bank also denied the existence of any account belonging to Khan and informed as much to the Indian authorities.