ED attaches Watali’s assets worth Rs 6.19 cr

The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday said it has attached Rs 6.19 crore assets of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali in a money laundering case related to alleged funding of militancy and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The agency also charged Watali and Hurriyat leaders ofreceiving funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan HighCommission in India “directly”.

   

It said a provisional order under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) has been issued for attaching lands in Sozeith Goripora,Narbal and Budgam areas of Kashmir belonging to Watali and his family membersthat are worth Rs 6.19 crore.

The ED case is based on a charge sheet filed by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) as part of its probe against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)chief Hafiz Saeed.

“Watali has been found to be involved in fund raising and asa financial conduit of Hurriyat leaders,” the ED said.

The probe revealed that the “Hurriyat leaders have receivedfunds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commissiondirectly,” it said in a statement.

“This was substantiated by an incriminating document seizedfrom the house of Ghulam Mohd Bhat during search,” it said.

Bhat worked as a cashier-cum-accountant with Watali, the EDsaid.

“The document clearly indicates that Watali was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed (LeT and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa chief), from ISI, from the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi and also from a source based in Dubai.

Watali was remitting the same to the Hurriyat leaders, separatists and stone-pelters of Jammu and Kashmir. The said document has been maintained in regular course of his business and is signed by Watali,” it said.

This document, the ED said, indicated that the Hurriyatleaders were receiving funds from Pakistan through the officials of thePakistan High Commission and through Watali.

The agency said the signature of Watali “has been verified”and as per the expert report, his signature on the stated document matches withhis specimen handwriting as well as his admitted handwriting.

It said another accused in the case, Naval Kishore Kapoor,mobilised funds from “unknown sources in Dubai and remitted the same to Wataliand his company Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd”.

The agency last month had similarly attached Rs 1.03 croreassets of Watali in Gurgaon in this case as part of a crackdown againstmilitancy funding and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The agency said the NIA probe revealed that the All PartyHurriyat Conference (APHC) and other secessionists “instigate the public,especially youths, to observe strikes and issue directives to the masses tohold anti-India protests, demonstrations and processions through pressreleases, newspapers and social media”.

“This is done willfully to create such circumstances whichwill arouse disaffection among the people of Jammu and Kashmir towards theGovernment of India,” the ED said.

Watali, Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddinand nine others have been accused by the NIA of “conspiring to wage a waragainst the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.

Watali is lodged in the Tihar jail at present in connection with the NIA case.

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