Law firm partner to be quizzed in Iqbal Mirchi case

The Enforcement Direc-torate (ED) will once again question Ajay Vazirani, a partner in Hariani and Co, a solicitor firm, in its ongoing probe against real estate

The Enforcement Direc-torate (ED) will once again question Ajay Vazirani, a partner in Hariani and Co, a solicitor firm, in its ongoing probe against real estate dealings involving the late Iqbal Memon alias Iqbal Mirchi, an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

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According to the agency, Vazirani facilitated payments to Mirchi, which were eventually routed to Dawood’s D-Company in Dubai. ED sources said that Vazirani, who has been questioned in the past, will be brought in again after Diwali.

The agency is currently investigating three properties — Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion — that Mirchi had purchased in 1986 from Mohammad Yusuf Trust. The chairperson of the trust, British national Haroun Yusuf, has been arrested in the case.

In 2010, Mirchi signed agreements for the redevelopment of these properties with the developer, by M/s Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Limited. The firm allegedly procured a loan of ₹2,186 crore to develop the properties. City-based businessman Ranjeet Bindra, who brokered the deal between Mirchi and Sunblink, has also been arrested.

During the probe, it was revealed that certain payments to Mirchi, with regard to the properties, were made through bank accounts opened with fake know-your-customer (KYC) documents in Chennai. The bank concerned, Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), registered a complaint with Chennai police against one Mushraff Merchant, who has been charged with cheating and forgery.

The ED, in an earlier remand report to the court, said Vazirani has accepted his role in the money laundering case.

“Statements of relevant persons were also recorded under section 50(2) and (3) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Vazirani, [who] facilitated the payment to Mirchi in Dubai, accepted facilitating related documentation and payment to Iqbal Mirchi. He was refusing the said fact earlier and was not cooperating with the investigation. When he was confronted with the passport travel details matching with travel dates of Bindra, he accepted the meeting with Memon family members overseas,” it read.

The report, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, read, “Thereafter, he provided details of payments made by Sunblink to Mirchi [to the accounts of companies controlled by Mirchi] through some companies/entities in Dubai.”