DRI probing garment exporters, bank men

The Rs 1,000 crore Ludhiana-based hawala racket unearthed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), New Delhi, has opened a can of worms back home. The scam, which at present centers around one garment exporter and a hawala operator, may soon prove bad news for some more garment exporters of this city including some bank officials who have been helping these businessmen raise funds.

The hawala operator named by the DRI, as per sources, is just the centrepoint, with many others revolving around him, using his services to bring back home their ill gotten money.

While the case has come to light recently, it has been learnt that these businessmen are being called for questioning by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from time to time and have even been barred from leaving the country.

Sources said that these businessmen had been using fake highly inflated bills to secure incentives like duty drawbacks on the garments they exported to the Middle East. It has also come to light that these exporters were picking up very sub-standard garments from the city and exporting them with their prime aim being just to avail of these duty drawbacks, which are as high as 3 per cent in some of the Middle East nations.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has raided places in New Delhi and Ludhiana and unearthed firms created by this businessman. However, sources within business circles here in the city say that this scam is much more than what the DRI has been able to nail so far.

Fake companies, inflated bills and even a parallel banking system wherein these garment exporters lent money to other exporters at high rates of interest, too, will come to light.

Apart from this, officials of a well known nationalised bank located in the Cheema Chowk area of the city may also face the law for loaning crores of money to these exporters.

... contd.

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