Probe allegations made by IAC on HSBC's hawala link: activists

Chennai:

UP Cadre IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and social activist Dr Nutan Thakur have sent a representation to Enforcement Directorate and Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance requesting him for enquiry and necessary action as regards allegations made by India Against Corruption (IAC) activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan regarding black money and hawala transactions in assistance with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC).

They have said that many of the facts presented in the Press Note of IAC prima-facie seem to constitute the offence under section 3 of the Prevention Of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and section 13 of Foreign Exchange Management Act,  1999 (FEMA).  Section 3 of PMLA is related with projecting any money generated through crime as untainted property while section 13 of FEMA is related with contravention of any provision of this Act.  Under section 8 of PMLA, on receipt of a complaint, if the Adjudicating Authority has reason to believe that any person has committed an offence under section 3, he may initiate the proceedings under this Act. Similarly section 16 of FEMA is related with Appointment of Adjudicating Authority for offences under that Act.  In view of this

Amitabh and Nutan have requested the Enforcement Directorate to take cognizance of their representation and initiate suitable action under PMLA and FEMA.

At the same time, they have requested the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enquire into the allegations against HSBC and to cancel its licence under section 22(4)of the Banking Regulations Act, I949 in case the allegations are found to be true.