Plan to bring Rs 200 crore hawala money in Tamil Nadu busted

The Income Tax department on Wednesday thwarted an attempt to bring Rs 200 crore of hawala money into Tamil Nadu for a prominent political party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, sources said.

The tax department sleuths arrested one Vinoth Kumar Joseph, who was deported from Malaysia and was intercepted at the Chennai International Airport on April 7.

Upon questioning Vinoth, an Indian national, the Income Tax officials found that he was involved in a huge hawala trade that was operating from Dubai and Malaysia, the source added.

The I-T team seized a mobile phone, i-pad, and laptop from Joseph and discovered that he was attempting to syphon hawala money worth Rs 200 crore from Dubai to Chennai.

“It has been found from WhatsApp chats on his mobile phone that he was planning to bring Rs 200 crore from Dubai to Chennai through hawala for a prominent political party based in Tamil Nadu,” sources in the I-T department said.

Officials have identified Appu, Selvam, Monika Virola and Suresh as other members of the team.

Further investigation into the matter is underway and the Enforcement Directorate is likely to take up the case.

Read more at: INDIA TODAY