Was the Abu Dhabi restaurant a front for PFI’s hawala transactions?
The agency has said that its investigation revealed that Thejas newspaper acted as a front mouthpiece in both India and the Gulf, where the organization raised funds in India by creating fake donation receipts and misled the authorities.
The ED has said that the office bearers of PFI, many of whom are in custody, used the Durbar restaurant in Abu Dhabi as a den for hawala transactions and their illegal transfer to India. Abdul Razak, arrested earlier in the money laundering case against PFI, was involved in carrying out money laundering activities of PFI and related entities through BP Darbar restaurant. The ED has said that he received the proceeds of the crime from his brother, who was managing the Durbar restaurant in Abu Dhabi.
Another company owned by Razak – Tamar India Spices Pvt Ltd – was also used to curtail the proceeds of the crime. “Shafiq Peeth worked for two years as Business Development Manager at Gulf Theseus Daily until 2018. Gulf Theses Daily is the branch of Thejas Newspaper which is published by Intermedia Publishing Limited in which Abdul Razak BP was one of the directors at that time ” The ED has said in its remand note against Peth, who was arrested in Kerala on Thursday.
Payath, who has been a founding member of PFI since 2007, was given the responsibility of raising funds from Qatar. According to the ED, Abdul Razak used his personal network in Abu Dhabi and allegedly converted the Durbar restaurant into a money laundering centre.
However, the kingpin of all major fund collection and hawala deals in the Gulf was Ashraf MK, who was a member of the PFI Kerala State Executive Council and also served as the PFI President of Ernakulam. Ashraf is also an accused in the 2010 case of beheading Professor Joseph. The ED probe reveals that he was involved in funding the PFI as well as related entities and was the owner of the Durbar restaurant in Abu Dhabi, which acted as money laundering. Before PFI, the agency has claimed.
“However, in order to hide the proceeds of crime through Darbar Restaurant, he did not disclose the fact of its ownership to the authorities in India and instead turned to Abdul Razak BP who was involved in carrying out money laundering activities with him. Included. PFI and related entities through Darbar Restaurant,” the ED has said.