THE CBI's continued failure to get hawala operator Amir Bhai extradited from Hong Kong has sparked speculation on why the agency did not probe his possible nexus with controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi. The bungling has also set tongues wagging about whether the agency really wants to bring him back since he could open a new can of worms.
The agency got to know about possible links between Quattrochi, a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, and Amir Bhai during main accused S.K. Jain's interrogation in the multi-crore hawala case. Quattrochi's firm Snam Progetti had secured the contract for the HBJ-pipeline during Rajiv Gandhi's regime.
Intelligence agencies have also collated information indicating the likelihood of a nexus between Amir Bhai and an international cartel through which the LTTE allegedly receives arms.
Amir Bhai, a low-profile Tamilian diamond merchant, is an accused in the Jain hawala scandal. S.K. Jain had disclosed to the CBI that Quattrochi introduced Amir Bhai to him and that "he (Amir) was a very close confidant of Mr Quattrochi". Jain also told interrogators: "Mr Quattrochi had a bank account in ABN Bank at Antwerp (Belgium) or Geneva/Zurich in Switzerland and possibly Amir Bhai had also his bank accounts in the said banks."
Intelligence sources say Antwerp was common turf for Amir Bhai and the international cartel. The Belgian port-city known for its diamond trade, say intelligence sources, "is used both for purchase of arms as well as their transportation." It is also used as a transit point.
Officials say there is no direct link between the LTTE activities in Antwerp, and Amir Bhai and Quattrochi having an account in the same city. But observers are surprised that this aspect wasn't investigated by the CBI as it is common knowledge that terrorist organisations take the help of hawala operators for their transactions.
The terrorist angle is significant in the hawala case. A bulk of the hawala money received from Amir Bhai was meant for Kashmiri separatists—this was revealed in 1991 with the arrest of two JKLF activists.
Antwerp caught the attention of Indian intelligence agencies after Rajiv Gandhi's 1991 assassination by suspected LTTE members. While keeping a tab on the LTTE's activities abroad, the agencies came across some fake shipping firms based in Greece and France. These companies were being used for supplying arms to the LTTE. According to information available with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and other agencies, Antwerp was one of the main ports through which the LTTE got its supply of illegal arms.
Antwerp figured in the CBI's books again in 1995, but this time because of Amir Bhai, when S.K. Jain disclosed that one part of the money which was given to politicians, bureaucrats and separatists was actually transacted through Amir Bhai's bank account at the ABN bank in Antwerp.
According to Jain's account, "Amir Bhai is aged about 45 years. He is about 5'6" height, medium built, medium complexion. He speaks English and Hindi both.... (Once) he had met me in Bombay in Hotel Oberoi." Jain admitted Amir Bhai had been passing on the money to him through J.K. Jain. Not only that, Amir always used to remind J.K. Jain to account for the receipts against secret heads 'A', 'AB' and 'K'.
Despite Jain's disclosures, no effort was made by the CBI to probe either the terrorist angle or Quattrochi's involvement in the scandal. And during last week's hearing of the Jain hawala case in the Supreme Court when amicus curiae Anil Divan sought to know whether the CBI had investigated Amir Bhai's links with terrorists, Attorney General Ashok Desai fumbled for a reply. A section of the officialdom associated with the case at one time feels the move to not conduct investigations in Dubai, Belgium and Geneva was an "act of commission rather than omission".
The Antwerp angle throws up a series of questions that demand answers. Did the CBI deliberately avoid the terrorist angle in the multi-crore Jain hawala case? Did it knowingly not charge Amir Bhai—the major missing link in the case—with aiding and abetting terrorism? Perhaps to save some VIPs the embarrassment likely to be caused by Amir Bhai's revelation? One of the main objections amicus curiae Divan raised at last week's Supreme Court hearing was precisely that Amir Bhai had
been booked only under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) and his terrorist links had never been investigated. He cited this as one of the major reasons why India failed to extradite Amir Bhai from Hong Kong—FERA is not an offence there.
Even the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the manner in which CBI director Joginder Singh handled the matter of extradition. A three-judge bench comprising Justices J.S. Verma, S.P. Bharucha and S.C. Sen said they expected "better results". When the court enquired whether Amir Bhai's extradition was sought for economic offences only or for funding terrorists and politicians also, all Attorney General Ashok Desai could say was: "Not for terrorist offence so far".
Says a highly placed official: "The terrorist angle to the hawala case has been completely ignored, for reasons unknown. The whole case was sought to be projected as a FERA violation only. The CBI didn't bother to look into other—perhaps more dangerous—angles like financial transactions for funding arms."
In fact, there has been virtually no foreign investigation in the case. Except for Mohini Jain, a London-based hawala operator, no key person could be examined abroad. Even Mohini Jain's questioning proved futile—she insisted she was doing legitimate business.
In view of this, Amir Bhai's extradition becomes even more crucial. Here is a man who holds the key to the most important question: where did the money come from? The issue of Amir Bhai's bank transactions in Dubai, Geneva and Antwerp came up when a CBI joint director led a team to Dubai and met Amir Bhai informally. He reportedly told the officials that he had a vast business and it won't be very difficult for him to justify his bank transactions. Most of these, say informed sources, take place through Dubai's Bank of Oman and The Emirate Travel Agency, whose owners are said to be related to Amir Bhai. With Amir Bhai's extradition not in sight and given the CBI's non-serious attitude, clearly the Jain hawala is still far from being an open-and-shut case.
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