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Updated: Aug 30, 2019 19:24 IST

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said that the concerned Adjudicating Authority has held Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali “guilty of contravening” the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and imposed on him a fine of Rs 62 lakh.

Watali is also being investigated for funding terror in the Kashmir Valley.

“The Authority imposed a penalty of Rs 62 lakh in a case of operating Non-Resident saving accounts (NRE and NRO) account in HSBC Bank at New Delhi in an ‘unauthorized manner’,” the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.

Investigation under FEMA was initiated against Watali on the basis of information about certain suspicious foreign exchange transactions.

The agency said: “During investigation, it was revealed that Watali was maintaining Non-Resident Saving Accounts (both NRE and NRO accounts) in HSBC Bank, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi.

“At the time of opening of these accounts Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali has submitted documents, namely, the copy of the passport issued at Washington D.C., resident visa etc. claiming himself as a Non-Resident Indian, whereas during this period he neither remained outside India for more than 182 days in the preceding financial year nor was his intention to remain outside India for an uncertain period,” it said.

The ED said that from 2003 to 2009, Watali received inward remittances to the tune of Rs 62.93 lakh in the bank account. It alleged that Watali opened his NRE and NRO account on the strength of his fake NRI status, despite being a resident in India.

The ED is also probing Watali under the sections of money laundering on the basis of the NIA case of terror funding against Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, Hizb-ul- Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin and others.

The ED has earlier attached properties of Watali and his family members worth Rs 8.94 crore. While attaching his properties, ED has accused him of raising funds and operating as a financial conduit for Hurriyat leaders.

Along with other nine accused in the case, Watali is currently in judicial custody at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.

According to earlier ED statements, the Hurriyat leaders received funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

“This was substantiated by an incriminating document seized from the house of Ghulam Mohammad Bhatt, who worked as cashier-cum-accountant with Watali. It clearly indicates that Watali was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan’s ISI and the Pakistan High Commission, as also from a source based in Dubai,” an earlier statement said.

(The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text, only the headline has been changed)