ED Slaps Rs 62 Lakh Notice Against Kashmiri Businessman Watali For Foreign Exchange Rule Violation businesstoday.in

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has slapped Rs 62 lakh penalty on Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, already facing terror-funding charges, for alleged violation of foreign exchange rules and operating bank accounts here using fake NRI credentials.

The case pertains to Watali violating Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) by illegally opening non-resident savings accounts in an HSBC bank branch, Greater Kailash-I, Delhi by “faking” his non-resident Indian (NRI) status, the ED said in a statement. The federal probe agency has issued a final show cause notice, after completion of the probe, to Watali for allegedly contravening the FEMA, and imposed penalty to the extent of Rs 62 lakh.

The Kashmiri businessman is already under the probe scanner of the ED and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of alleged terror funding and his purported links with banned Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and its chief Hafiz Saeed. Assets worth Rs 8.94 crore of Watali in Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), Gurgaon and other locations have been attached by the ED till now