Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Sep 15, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Sep 15, 2002 |
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Economic Offences Industry & Economy - Economic Offences Markets - Stock Markets Ketan Parekh's money trail leads CBI to UK Dinesh Narayanan
MUMBAI, Sept. 14 THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has traced a part of funds allegedly siphoned off by the stockbroker, Mr Ketan Parekh, from India to certain investments in London. According to CBI sources, the stockbroker, with the help of associates, funnelled out large funds from the country through overseas corporate bodies to companies based in London. These companies have allegedly invested the funds in securities listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the sources told Business Line. The CBI, incidentally, is yet to receive any reply from Swiss authorities on Letters Rogatory sent to them in June 2001 in connection with large hordes of money allegedly stashed away by Mr Ketan Parekh in bank accounts in that country. The sources said the broker appears to have made the investments in LSE securities and possibly elsewhere in London. The CBI believes the broker's cousin, Mr Kartik Parekh, who is also a business associate of Mr Ketan Parekh, helped him in the London operation by setting up a company with a group of individuals based there. Investigators following the money trail suspect that a few powerful non-resident Indian businessmen in the UK may also have, knowingly or unknowingly, got involved in the transactions. They, however, declined to disclose the name of the suspect benami investment companies and the amount involved. In June 2001, while investigating alleged siphoning off of funds by Mr Ketan Parekh and associates from the Gujarat-based Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank, the CBI had chanced upon several money laundering channels of the broker. One such trail, according to the agency, led to an account in Credit Suisse in Zurich, which held millions of Swiss francs. According to investigators, the money was channelled through a corporation registered in Nassau, Bahamas. Swiss authorities had then confirmed that the beneficial owner of the account was Mr Ketan Parekh. Since then the CBI has been probing the other trails and now one appears to have ended in Old Blighty. The CBI officers also said the stockbroker may have succeeded in routing some funds back to the Indian bourses. However, they admitted they could not say so with certainty because no hard evidence had been found.
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