Punjab Enforcement Director Claims To Uncover ‘Hawala’ Deals Worth Rs 15 Crore

Ludhiana-based cycle parts exporter in trouble!
CHANDIGARH – A Ludhiana-based cycle parts exporter is in trouble with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) detecting Rs 15 crore ‘hawala’ transactions and an export duty drawback scam.
About 40-50 export houses and firms in Punjab, particularly those in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, are under the ED lens for claiming “bogus” duty incentive drawback by sending empty containers or by submitting exaggerated bills or by “under-valuing” imports to avoid customs duty. The growing practice is not limited to one trade. It is widely prevalent among exporters of garments and machinery parts.
Two ED teams led by Assistant Directors Manoj Sharma and PK Bharal conducted simultaneous raids on the residence and business premises of Ludhiana-based cycle exporter and owner of Nice Exports Sanjiv Gupta. The raids, that started at 2 pm, continued till late in the night. Gupta was away to New Delhi. The raiding team recovered cash worth over Rs 55 lakh from Gupta’s residence. It also detected a ‘hawala’ and export incentive duty drawback scam worth Rs 15 crore.
Sources said Gupta was allegedly showing export of bicycle parts (under the names of different brands) to Europe and Dubai “only on paper” and was involved in bogus drawing of central export duty incentives running into crores. The Centre’s export duty drawback incentives range between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the export value.
A perusal of the seized documents revealed Gupta’s modus operandi. His firm made “bogus” exports and received cheques from countries of export to comply with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) requirements.
The “ill-gotten” money was routed back to foreign countries through “hawala” transactions against cheques and multiple traveller cheques with the help of Jalandhar-based owners of Happy Forex.