'Hasan Ali funded projects for Khashoggi'

Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan had funded projects for international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and this was reflected in one of his Swiss bank accounts that had been blocked with the comment “Funds from Weapon Sales”, stated the 950-page charge sheet filed by the ED before the special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan had funded projects for international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and this was reflected in one of his Swiss bank accounts that had been blocked with the comment “Funds from Weapon Sales”, stated the 950-page charge sheet filed by the ED before the special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

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Khan was arrested on March 7 by the ED for allegedly stashing billions of dollars in overseas bank accounts.

The dealings with Khashoggi surfaced when Khan went to purchase a hotel in Switzerland in 2001 along with friend Philip Anandraj, also an accused in the case.

According to the chargesheet, Khan acted as Khashoggi’s front man to park the latter’s money. Khan had admitted to having dealings with Khashoggi on the recommendation of Dr Peter Weilly, Khan’s portfolio manager with the UBS Bank. “In 1993-94, Dr Weilly asked Khan to finance the project with 300 million dollars belonging to Khashoggi,” the chargesheet states.

The deal for the hotel was even negotiated to 27.99 million Swiss Francs, which could be paid from Khan’s “petty cash”, according to one of UBS’s lawyers who was part of the negotiation meeting.

Khan’s aide and co-accused, Kashinath Tapuriah, confirmed the dealings. Tapuriah said in his statement that “to the best of his knowledge”, Khan knew Khashoggi since 1982 and “the account in UBS in the name of Hasan Ali Khan was introduced by Adnan Khashoggi”.

Tapuriah has claimed that Khan told him that Khashoggi had introduced him (Khan) to UBS Bank, which was confirmed by R Hartmann, in-charge of the UBS Singapore.

Anandraj, who was to get 2-2.5% commission from the hotel deal, has said in his statement that Franz Glanzmann, owner of Chateau Gutsch, had asked whether Khan was generating the money to purchase the hotel.