Rail sweeper’s firm sent Rs 168 crore remittance to Singapore bank

s reported by this newspaper on Sunday, what started as a probe into Rs 168 crore worth of remittances sent to a Singapore bank account by an import-export firm allegedly owned by a Kasara-based railway sweeper led to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) unearthing a Rs 2,200 crore money-laundering scam perpetrated by a clutch of shell firms dealing in consumer goods including electronics.

According to a source close to the investigation, it was found that remittances worth `168 crore were sent to a Singapore bank account in the name of a firm called Fine Touch Impex run by a man who turned out to be a railway sweeper staying in Kasara, Thane. “The profile of the railway sweeper as the man who ran a firm sending remittances worth `168 crore to a Singapore bank account just didn’t add up. The probe was widened to examine other such transactions conducted from a few bank branches under the scanner,” said the source. The transactions allegedly used fraudulent documents, including identity particulars of persons who were not involved in the racket, according to the

source. Additionally, invoices and entry bills related to the transactions might have been dubious, added the source.

The investigation was expanded to include other dubious transactions conducted by another suspected shell firm in the name of Pidilite Traders, Dombivali. “The shell firm in the name of Pidilite Traders sent remittances worth Rs 26 crore,” informed the source. A sum of Rs 680 crore was allegedly found to have been remitted by two suspected shell firms bearing the address, Abdul Rehman Street, south Mumbai, and the same initial, Stelkon. “The firms used to send remittances have turned out to be mere fronts that were probably used by certain people associated with the jewellery business for money laundering,” the source said. Suspecting a money-laundering racket and collusion of unidentified officials of six bank branches where these transactions were carried out, the DRI has sought probes by the CBI and ED into the scam.