But for three years, the agencies have not been able to establish that H. Ameerdeen, a 49-year-old gem trader from Killakarai in Tamil Nadu , is the ‘Amir Bhai’ they are looking for. So much so that Joginder Singh’s much-publicised trips to Hong Kong and Dubai to expedite Amir’s extradition, within days of taking over as CBI director , too came a cropper. In fact, the Hong Kong authorities outright rejected the extradition case.
The CBI’s discomfiture is understandable. Embarrassed by a spate of Court room defeats in the Hawala cases-last week, charges against Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, N.D. Tiwari and R.K.Dhawan were drooped for lack of evidence-the agencies has now pinned its hopes on cracking the case through Amir Bhai. Recently, in a curious turn of events, both agencies vociferously opposed Amir’s application seeking anticipatory bail in the Delhi High Court—preempting Amir Bhai return to India. Amir, whose firm Gems Traders is registered at the Pancharatna Complex in Mumbai-remains nonplussed . In an exclusive , no-holdsbarred, telephonic interviews from Dubai, the soft-spoken Amir Bhai spoke to Charu Lata Joshi Excerpts:
Last week, four more top-level politicians chargesheeted by the CBI in the hawala case were discharged by the courts. What do you have to say about it?
Since the beginning, everybody, including the politicians, have been maintaining that the case was fabricated. There is no evidence against anybody and this has come out in court. Now the results are there for all to see. The case was influenced by some people in power at that time to nush out their political rivals. It was definitely apolitically motivated case. As far as I am concerned, I have always maintained that I am innocent.
According to you, what were the CBI’s motivations?
I can’t say. But there is politics in all this. It is a fight between some politicians—· between somebody who was at the top at that time and those he considered his rivals. I got caught in the crossfire.
Are you talking about P.V. Narasimha Rao?
It is not for me to name people. You in the press know better. You have written about how the CBI was taking orders from the prime minister. And then in 1996, the Supreme Court, too, passed an order, taking the CBI out of the PM’s control. Doesn’t that make things clear?
Do you want to come back to India?
Why do you think I filed an application seeking anticipatory bail? My business is in India, my property is there, I belong there. Why should I not come back to my own country? My application has been pending since November.
Why do you think the CBI is preventing you from coming home?
Just look at their conduct. Here I am, willing to come back and the CBI, which has been launching searches for me all over, now opposes my bail application. It seems that they don’t want me back. In the beginning, when P.C. Sharma, joint director, CBI and A.P. Kala, special director, Directorate of Enforcement (DOE), came to Dubai with my lawyer, Ashok Mehta, after seeking an appointment, I had told them that I am not involved in the case. But they refused to record my statement. In a subsequent showcause notice, the DOE still continued to maintain that they did not know anything about my whereabouts. What was the idea in concealing the fact that the two officers had questioned me in Dubai? Then I was in Hong Kong for a business trip, on June 8 last year, and the CBI suddenly issued a warrant of arrest for me through Interpol. On June 18, the governor of Hong Kong rejected the CBI request for lark of evidence. All along I have been saying that I want to come back (to India) but they are somehow putting stumbling blocks.
But the CBI alleges that you fled from Hong Kong to Dubai.
What do you mean by fleeing? I don’t understand. I came through legal channels-through Dubai immigration and Hong Kong immigration.
But isn’t it true that your passport was revoked?
Yes, but it was revoked by the Government of India, not by the Government of Hong Kong.
Why is the CBI opposing your ball?
Just for show. On the one hand, they say that I am the ‘kingpin’; on the other, they want to prevent me from coming back to India. They should have welcomed me because they could then get my statement and proceed against me if there was any evidence against me. What they really want to do is to arrest me, harass me and force a statement. There are 29 politicians involved and the CBI has not opposed the bail of any one of them. Why oppose mine?
Why should the CBI wage a special vendetta against you?
You tell me what I should think? If they didn’t oppose the bail application of Advani and Balram Jakhar and Scindia, why should they oppose mine? I am being denied my rights. I am very much aware that, as an accused, I can take protection under the Constitution. It is not obligatory for me to make any statement at all. Yet, I volunteered to give a statement when Sharma and Kala came to Dubai.
It seems that CBI director Joginder Singh is taking a special interest in my case. He flew all the way to Hong Kong to oversee my case. Look, if the judgement had gone against me, I would naturally be extradited to India, by even the junior-most officer from the CBI and if I won, he could do nothing against me. Then why did he show such interest? Then he came to Dubai also. This just shows that he’s showing special interest in this case. But the same keenness was not shown in other cases like the urea scam, the sugar scam, the telecom scandal....
How does It feel to be called the hawala kingpin?
It’s nothing to be proud of. I am not a kingpin. I was branded one by the media. Some papers are totally biased against the minority community in India. But you must remember that I haven’t been convicted yet.
Do you mean to say that the car has no evidence against you apart from the diary entries?
If at all they have any evidence, they should produce it in court. Why haven’t they chargesheeted me, like they did in the case of Advani, Jakhar, etc? Don’t forget that when my case—for extradition—came up in a Hong Kong court, it was not taken up for hearing, it was dismissed by the governor. It just shows that the merits of the case were not worth consideration by international standards.
But there is evidence of telephone calls made from S.K. Jain’s nephew, Anil Jain’s residence in Delhi to your phone number in Hong Kong.
Anybody could have made those calls. How does that implicate me?
But S.K. Jain mentioned you?
Not about me. But about "Amir bhai", who could be anybody. At the same time, his oral statement also talks about some politicians who occupied the highest office at that time. You know who.
Rao?
Could be. But they haven’t bothered to interrogate him or conduct a custodial interrogation, or even summon him.
Do you think that the car is politicised?
I can’t say anything about that. That the media knows better. But it seems that the CBI, even now, is neglecting other cases. After the so-called Jain hawala case - which involved a sum of Rs 65 crore-two other hawala cases came to light in India. One involved somebody in the diamond business in Surat. The scam was Rs 400 crore. Then there was a hawala transaction in roubles amounting to Rs 400 crore. I’d like to know what happened to these cases. In the urea case, I have come to know that the CBI is only proceeding on the kickback angle. What about the $33 million? Is there any precedence in Indian corporate history of the import of any item, the full payment of which was transferred out of India without any guarantee?
The CBI also talks about your links with Ottavio Quattrocchi.
I don’t know anybody like that. I just read about it in newspapers. It could be a ploy to implicate some other politician.
It is said that you have accounts in Antwerp and Geneva?
I have accounts only in Chennai and Mumbai. But I export diamonds and do business overseas through legal channels. There has nor been a single instance of not bringing back the amount in foreign exchange.
What are your plans now?
As you know, I am employed with a leading business group in Dubai. The main thing is that I want to come back to India. I have 100 per cent faith in the judiciary.
