I-T dept slaps Rs40,000-crore fine on ‘hawala kingpin’ Hasan Ali

Hasan Ali Khan, the Pune-based racehorse breeder and alleged black money kingpin who holds the key to many details regarding illicit money stashed abroad, has been penalised as much as Rs40,000 crore by the income tax department, which accuses him of tax evasion and money laundering.

The I-T department feels he has put away millions of dollars of black money in UBS, Singapore through hawala channels. He was earlier summoned by the department after they wound up their investigations on his role in multi-million dollar evasion.

Khan has been blatantly evading Indian tax rules for the last couple of years and the department had to conduct a detailed investigation in order to get to the root of the black money trail. The probe revealed that he owed the I-T department Rs40,000 crore. The government has filed an affidavit in this regard against him.

The I-T department has firm evidence that Khan parked his money in Basel-based Bank Sarasin & Co, and it plans to approach the Swiss federal office of justice for more bank details.

''Information has been received that Hasan Ali transferred $700,000 from Bank Sarasin to Citibank in New York from which it was moved to Barclays in the UK,'' said an official. Hasan Ali's transaction is dated 2005 but came to notice as the US authorities are checking the past movement of monies that cross the prescribed $10,000-limit.

''We will be approaching the Swiss authorities for more details under the international mutual legal assistance pact,'' said the official, as repeated letters rogatory to the Swiss authorities have failed to elicit any response. Swiss law does not consider non-filing and non-payment of income tax as a criminal offence.