UAE’s ambassador to India has denied having any knowledge about his country seizing underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s assets, which was used by the BJP to brag about their government’s proactive measure against the Don bearing fruit.
Dr. Ahmed Al Banna spoke to The Hindu in light of the crown-prince’s visit to India next week and rubbished such reports.
When asked about Dawood, Banna told the newspaper that he was firstly not sure of how much Dawood owns in the country. On being asked specifically about the Dawood-bust, Banna is quoted saying: “I don’t know anything about that.”
When prodded further, the ambassador is reported to have said that he had heard about the reports mentioning a raid but he said he had no information of any such raids taking place.
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The story that first caught the headlines on January 4 this year was ‘scooped’ by Zee News in a report. The report without a byline on their website quoted Zee Media to have claimed that a raid by UAE authorities had seized Rs 15,000 crore worth of Dawood's assets there.
The report mentioned that the raid happened after Indian authorities had sent over a confidential list to the UAE which was handed over when PM Modi and NSA chief Ajit Doval visited the country in 2016.
The report had also claimed that India had requested UAE to seize Dawood’s property in the country. A number of media organizations had picked up the story later which prompted the BJP to put out the following tweet on its handle.
