Hasan Ali "front man" of arms dealer Khashoggi: ED chargesheet

MUMBAI: International arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi had helped Hasan Ali Khan open his account with UBS, Zurich, to use it to launder tainted money and for the Pune stud farm owner CHF (Swiss currency) 28.5 million was "petty cash" to buy a hotel in Switzerland, according to the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate.
Khan was acting as a "front man" for Khashoggi, a persona-non-grata in Switzerland, and Pune stud farm owner's UBS account was used to park the arms dealer's money, says the chargesheet filed yesterday under Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Enforcement Directorate against Khan and Kolkata businessman Kashinath Tapuriah.
The 950-page document quotes Tapuriah as having told them that Khashoggi had introduced Khan to the bank in 1982 and that the Kolkata businessman learnt from the manager of UBS Reto Hartmann that money deposited belonged to the arms dealer, who might have instructed Peter Weily, a former UBS employee and his portfolio manager, not to allow Khan to withdraw any amount above a particular limit.
Tapuriah also told the ED officials that once Khan had shown him the statement of account in 2005-2006 in Zurich having a balance of USD 2 bilion. Tapuriah told his interrogators that Khan had revealed to him the code to operate the account which was "Black Prince".
It was on Peter Weily's recommendation that Khan had effected the transfer of USD 300 million to Khashoggi's account temporarily which the latter had returned to Khan's UBS account. Khashoggi's account in the US from where the money was returned to Khan was later identified as tainted money following which Khan' account was blocked by UBS.
According to Tapuriah, the chargesheet says, Khan knew of Khashoggi's movement even while remaining in India.
The chargesheet says Philip Anandraj, an aide of Khan, has said in his statement that the Pune real estate consultant intended to buy Hotel Chateau Gutsch in Switzerland.
"Anandraj also confirmed that the UBS representatives had indeed made a statement regarding Khan's ability to pay the proposed sale amount of CHF 28.5 million from his petty cash," said ED.
According to ED, the deal for purchase of Chateau Gutsch in Lucerne was finalised and during the payment, UBS informed that USD 30 crore had arrived with tagged comment "Funds from Weapon Sales".
In its chargesheet, the ED has said that Khan obtained passport from Patna on the forged and fabricated documents after entering into a conspiracy with Tapuriah and Bihar Congress politician Amlendu Pandey.
Tapuriah told ED that he arranged for Khan's passport through Pandey after the stud farm owner informed him that his travel document was in court's custody in Hyderabad because of which he could not operate his bank account with UBS, Zurich.
According to Pandey, Tapuriah told him to arrange a new passport for Khan from Patna and that he was aware that the stud farm owner already had a passport which had been seized.
In his statement, Pandey told ED that Tapuriah informed him that Khan was a "big person" and belonged to the family of Nizams of Hyderabad.
Pandey met the then Member of Parliament Iqbal Singh (now Lt. Governor of Pudducherry) and requested him for help in securing the passport. According to ED, Pandey said that Singh called someone in the Minstry of External Affairs and requested him to get the work done.