ED Cracks Down on Ranchi CA-led ₹1500 Cr Hawala Operation across India, UAE, Nigeria and U.S
Investigations have revealed that shell companies collectively accumulated over ₹900 crore in unexplained reserves, and funnelled back ₹1,500 crore through various means.
In one of its biggest foreign exchange crackdown operations this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has allegedly launched simultaneous multi-city raids to thwart a sprawling ₹1,500 crore cross-border hawala syndicate allegedly masterminded by a Ranchi-based Chartered Accountant (CA).
Reports suggest that the Directorate, acting on actionable intelligence and a detailed dossier shared by the Income Tax Department, investigation teams of the Directorate singled down on 12 locations across Ranchi, Mumbai, and Surat and conducted searches under Section 37 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.
Foreign Shell Firms Across UAE, Nigeria, USA Under Scanner
Preliminary reports and investigation by the ED suggest that the CA is the mastermind behind a network of undisclosed offshore shell entities incorporated in the UAE, Nigeria and the United States which are used to route funds - allegedly managed from India.
Investigators say these entities, despite being foreign on paper, had no actual business activity, and were simply used as conduits for massive illicit fund flows.
Preliminary analysis indicates the shell companies collectively accumulated over ₹900 crore in unexplained reserves, while an estimated ₹1,500 crore was funneled back into India through bogus telegraphic transfers, forged documentation, multi-layered financial routing and sham import-export declarations.
During the searches, ED teams recovered cash amounting to ₹65 lakh, Gold and silver coins worth ₹55 lakh and Digital evidence suggesting hawala transfers abroad. These recoveries were direct material indicators of ongoing foreign exchange violations and illicit cross-border fund movements.
An ED official has stated that the foreign holdings were never disclosed in statutory filings, pointing towards a major breach of FEMA compliance norms stemming from the non-disclosure alone.
Also Read:ED not Mandated to Record Woman’s Statement at Residence during FEMA Summons for Discovery & Production of Evidence: Delhi HC [Read Order]
Searches Expected to Continue
Reports suggest that the operation will continue over the next few days as teams extract data from seized devices, trace communication trails, and examine financial ledgers to map the international money trail and identify additional participants in the syndicate.
An official press statement from the Enforcement Directorate is awaited.
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