Kozhikode: The state intelligence wing has received information that hawala transactions to the tune of about Rs 264 crore had taken place in Kerala over the past two months. The intelligence wing has alerted the senior officers and recommended a probe by central agencies since the transactions involved agents in multiple states.
Hawala is an informal method of transferring money without any physical money actually moving. In India, this transaction system is illegal under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The money was transferred illegally by road. The information received also raised suspicion that the sea route was also taken to ferry the money to Kerala. It is learnt that the intelligence wing would hand over the evidence and hints it had collected to the Enforcement Directorate. The state intelligence received the information from the Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, and Kollam districts.
The state intelligence has legal constraints in further examining various bank accounts, and hence it recommended the probe by central agencies. It has been revealed that the money was credited to the bank accounts of people in rural areas. Middlemen, too, were widely used to deposit money into the accounts of those in dire financial difficulties. The money was transferred to another account using mobile phones the same day.
The account holder was paid between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 for each Rs 10 lakh thus transferred. The middlemen also included those seeking to open new accounts to transfer the hawala money. Authorities are examining suspicious accounts.
A probe has been initiated to ascertain if money was brought in through the sea route. The Coast Guard and the Coastal Police had inspected a boat that sailed into the River Chaliyar from the sea via Beypore one-and-a-half-months ago.
Though the boat was let off after finding its documents in order, authorities are probing why an empty vessel had sailed into the river.
