NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation have decided to reopen the investigation into the alleged $8 billion money laundering case against Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan after a meeting of the top bosses of the two investigative agencies.

The last activity in the case was when ED had issued notices to two former executives of UBS Switzerland to appear for evidence recording in 2012. The new NDA regime wants to revive the probe as the trial of the case is pending in a Mumbai court since 2011. Towards the end of the UPA-2 regime, the probe agencies had reported little progress in the case citing difficulties faced in procuring banking details from Swiss authorities.

Hassan Ali is believed to have dealings with international arms dealer Khashoggi and allegedly had multi-billion dollar financial transactions in Swiss banks, details of which were recovered by income tax officials during a search operation.

Earlier this month, Ali had got bail from a Maharashtra court in the ED’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act case. He was arrested under PMLA in 2011 on charges of laundering money to foreign banks.

The income tax department had slapped a tax and penalty notice of Rs 70,000 crore on Hassan Ali based on its findings. Later, the ED questioned his close associate and Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuriah who had allegedly accompanied Hassan Ali to Singapore for opening of bank accounts.

In the same case, ED also questioned former Puducherry lieutenant governor Iqbal Singh and some senior police officers. Khan was introduced to Singh by a Congress leader from Bihar, Amlendu Pandey, for getting a passport.

Pandey had later told ED officials that he had been in regular contact with Singh and had helped the Pune-based businessman to obtain a passport from Patna under forged documents.