Hawala scam accused Fatta denies ED's charges

Ahmedabad: The multi-crore rupee hawala scam accused Afroz Fatta denied the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charges against him today while filing an affidavit before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.

In his affidavit-in-rejoinder to the ED's charges of illegal transactions worth Rs 5,395 crore, Fatta said that the prosecution agency could not establish the offence under the PMLA Act.

"There is no single evidence or material on ground put before the court which could have established a case of hawala transaction against the applicant (Fatta)," Fatta said in an affidavit filed in connection with his bail plea before Special Judge SC Srivastava of the PMLA court.

Fatta shifted the blame to his co-accused, who is a Surat-based diamond trader called Madanlal Jain, saying "the ED has alleged that illegal transactions were made through some fictitious companies but all these companies are under the direct control of Madanlal Jain while the others, including the applicant (Fatta), have no role to play in it".

On the ED's charges of making illegal transactions worth Rs 3,929.15 crore through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, Fatta said in his affidavit that there is no point in looking at such transactions with doubts.

"The RTGS system has been largely accepted in cities like Surat, Mumbai and other big cities. The government of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have also encouraged it. There is no point in looking at the system with doubts," Fatta said.

Fatta filed the rejoinder against the ED's earlier affidavit which said that he is connected to illegal money transactions and prima facie, a case has been made out against him.