Based on the credible information that few Chinese individuals and their Indian associates were involved in money laundering and hawala transactions through series of shell entities, a search action was mounted at various premises of these Chinese entities, their close confederates and couple of bank employees.

Search action revealed that at the behest of Chinese individuals, more than 40 bank accounts were created in various dummy entities, entering into credits of more than ₹ 1,000 Crore over the period. A subsidiary of Chinese company and its related concerns have taken over ₹ 100 Crore bogus advances from shell entities for opening businesses of retail showrooms in India. Further, incriminating documents in respect of hawala transactions and laundering of money with active involvement of bank employees and Chartered accountants has been found as a result of search action. Evidences of foreign hawala transactions involving Hongkong and US dollars have also been unearthed. Further investigations are under progress.

Money laundering investigations uncover hawala networks and nominee accounts, prompting forensic financial probes and continued inquiries. Income-tax authorities conducted searches at premises linked to Chinese nationals, Indian associates, and bank personnel after information of systematic money laundering and hawala networks. The searches revealed numerous bank accounts in nominee entities, extensive credit inflows, documents suggesting cross-border hawala transfers in foreign currency, involvement of chartered accountants and bank employees in facilitating transfers, and alleged fraudulent advances from shell entities to related corporate concerns. Seized materials have been retained for forensic analysis and further investigation is under way.