ED arrests billionaire meat exporter Moin Qureshi in money laundering case

A billionaire, Moin Qureshi is suspected to be one of India’s biggest tax evaders.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi late Friday night in connection with a money laundering probe against him and others.

Officials at the Directorate of Enforcement office in New Delhi. Agency officials said Qureshi was arrested late Friday night in New Delhi after he was called for questioning. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

Qureshi will be presented in a Delhi court on Saturday.

The billionaire has been questioned multiple times in the past by the agency after it registered two FIRs under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

He had been under probe since 2015 when the ED filed a case against him alleging illegal dealings in foreign exchange and using hawala channels for routing money to London, Dubai and other places.

The meat exporter had come under the ED’s radar in 2011 after the income tax began probing him for dodging taxes. Suspected to be one of the biggest tax evaders in India, Qureshi allegedly has close ties to a former CBI director. His proximity to several high profile leaders of the UPA and NDA has also emerged during the investigation.

After humble beginnings in Uttar Pradesh with a slaughterhouse, Qureshi acquired several businesses in the 1990s and established his company AMQ Agri which is one of the largest meat exporters in the country.