Gujarat: Enforcement Directorate opposes bail plea of Hawala scam accused Afroz Fatta

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday opposed the bail application of Hawala scam accused Afroz Fatta before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ahmedabad.

"The accused is connected with the money generated from the illegal transactions, prime facie a case had been made out against him," ED's counsel Sudheer Gupta said, adding charges were substantiated by testimonies of the witnesses.

"He has made illegal transactions by creating some fictitious companies," he submitted. After hearing the prosecution's argument, judge S C Srivastava posted the matter for furher hearing on August 13.
The court has also directed 77 other accused to remain present on the next date.

Fatta has said in his application that while co-accused Madanlal Jain was involved in the money-laundering scam, he himself was not involved in it. ED's charge sheet, filed last month, claims hawala operations in which Fatta was involved were to the tune of Rs 5,395 crore.

On March 21 this year, ED had busted the racket during searches at offices of some diamond traders including Fatta and Jain at Surat. The duo made bogus import bills, without actually importing diamonds and transferred huge amounts overseas using these bills, ED claims.