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Pradeep Thakur
[22 Apr, 2007 l 0030 hrs IST
lTIMES NEWS NETWORK]NEW DELHI: Indian moneylaunderers are getting smarter and audacious. In a shocking instance, they along with their European collaborators made a mockery of the post-9/11 global vigil to keep a bank running even though it had been shuttered abroad after having been found involved in fraud.
The gang managed to launder several billions of dollars by morphing the illegal operations of the bank into a software business. Top sources said at least 10 businessmen sent a sum to the tune of $9 billion in a space of months.
The scandal was busted by the Income-Tax department early this year during a routine investigation into hawala transactions. The sheer size of the network spanning several countries led the taxmen to hand over the probe to the Enforcement Directorate last week.
The First Curacao International Bank — whose operations were first exposed by UK authorities with the help of investigators in Holland — was banned last September after it was found helping people from Europe and India launder dirty money. Amassed from kickbacks and unaccounted earnings, the money is stashed abroad only to be brought back, in many cases, as different forms of foreign investment.
Comments
- Muscles, Jun 22, 2008 at 06:26 PM PDT said:
Woah...that is one heck of a scam. Hope these fraudsters are brought to book
