Controversial Delhi-based meat exporter Moin Qureshi was on Saturday detained at the airport in a money laundering case but managed to give immigration authorities the slip and flew to Dubai after showing an old court order in an income tax case, leaving officials red faced.
An enquiry has been ordered by the immigration authorities into the gaffe.
Qureshi was detained based on a look Out Circular (lOC) issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case against him.
As the immigration department informed the ED about his detention, Qureshi presented a court order in which there was no restriction on his flying abroad. The immigration officer checked for the veracity of the court order and allowed him to fly to Dubai.
As the ED team reached the airport to take the meat exporter into custody, they were informed that he had been allowed to fly on the basis of a court order. However, the immigration officer realised that the order was in connection with an Income Tax case and not in the ED case, prompting the authorities to order an enquiry.
According to airport officials, Qureshi told authorities that he has furnished a bond and got the court’s nod to travel abroad even as he got a fax sent in this regard from his legal team to the airport. “We have sought documents from immigration authorities based on which Qureshi was allowed to travel. Our officials were on the spot to take his custody but he was allowed to fly abroad,” ED sources said.
It is understood that the agency wanted to question Qureshi and had issued summons to him but couldn’t lay its hands on him. The agency had registered a case against Qureshi under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) last year. He is under the scanner of probe agencies for alleged tax evasion and hawala-like dealings. Under the Money laundering Act, a case is registered against him. There are allegations that he has sent Rs 200 crore abroad. A case has also been lodged against him in the Income Tax Department, which after investigation found out that Qureshi had 11 bank lockers, but in the names of his employees and associates. The IT department then handed over dossiers to ED in April this year.
The ED had alleged that Qureshi has sent “huge amount of funds” through the hawala route to Dubai, london and few other overseas destinations in Europe.
The agency early last year had also conducted searches on Qureshi’s premises and had also questioned him.
The lockers were operated by the employees of AMQ Group of Qureshi claiming that over Rs 11.26 crore in cash and jewellery worth over Rs 8.35 crore were found in these lockers.