Rs 1,500 cr sent abroad. Was Mumbai firm laundering money for politicos?

ED officials, probing transactions of diamond firm, believe Mumbai company was used as a route by some politicians to convert black money worth Rs 1,500 crore into white

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The Rs 1,500 crore allegedly sent abroad illegally by the diamond trading firm Rajeshwari Export, against whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case earlier this year, could possibly be of some politicians who were trying to convert their black money into white, highly placed sources in the ED claimed.

A couple of weeks ago, the ED had booked Rajeshwari Export, at Parel, after discovering that the company had allegedly used hawala channels to take Rs 1,500 crore out of the country in the past year calling them payments for imports of rough diamonds from Hong Kong and Dubai.

Before sending the money abroad, the firm had first channelled the money by multiple layering with the help of 10 bogus or shell companies. ED investigators are trying to find out the source of the money. A source said that a huge amount of cash, which had been deposited in the bank accounts of shell companies, could belong to politicians. ED is not naming them, as action against them is yet to be taken.

The whole scam was unearthed while ED officials were keeping an eye on some suspicious transactions in bank accounts post demonetisation.

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