CBI searches residence of accused in Rs 1,038 cr black money remittance case

The CBI has searched two premises in Tamil Nadu belonging to one of the accused in a case of alleged black money remittances worth Rs 1,038 crore made to Hong Kong in 2014-15, officials said on Wednesday.

They said the searches took place at the residential premises of Mohammed Ibramsa Johney in Chennai and Sivaganga districts of the state from where incriminating material related to the case was recovered.

The CBI has booked 51 entities, mostly owned by Chennai residents, for allegedly remitting Rs 1,038 crore black money to Hong Kong in connivance with unidentified officials of three state-owned banks -- Bank of India, SBI and Punjab National Bank, they said.

The CBI has alleged that 24 accounts were used for outward foreign remittances in USD equivalent to Rs 488.39 crore as advance payment of goods' imported and 27 were used to remit Rs 549.95 crore towards foreign travel of Indian tourists.

The agency also alleged that most of the remittances were made in the second half of 2015 and annual turnover of the firms was shown in lakhs whereas the amounts remitted were in crores, which was "fraudulently and dishonestly" facilitated by the bank officials, they said.