The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on charges of money laundering and “active involvement in terror funding”.
What are the allegations against Malik?
The ED is probing Malik for a property deal that he had with Haseena Parkar, sister of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. There are allegations that Malik bought this property – 3 acres of land in the Goawala compound on LBS Marg in Kurla, Mumbai – for Rs 85 lakh, of which Rs 30 lakh was shown in the sale agreement and the rest was paid in cash. The ED has alleged that the registered value of the property was much lower than the prevailing market rate.
According to the ED, Parkar transferred his interest in the property held with Salim Patel in 2005 for the beneficial interest of Malik. The ED has claimed that Sardar Shahwali Khan, who has links to the underworld, played a key role in the sale.
According to the ED’s remand application in the court, the land was originally owned by Munira Plumber and Parkar and his frontman, Mohammad Salim Ishaq Khan alias Salim Patel, who have links to the underworld, through a forged power ” Weapon” was taken. In the name of Advocate (POA) Patel. The document gave Patel the right to sell the plumber’s land.
The plumber told the ED that he never approached Malik for the sale and came to know about it only last year through media reports. The ED has alleged that the total value of the land in the sale agreement is Rs 30 lakh. The agency said Malik introduced “fake tenants” to reduce the registry value of the land.
Who are these two men belonging to the underworld?
Shahawali Khan is serving a life sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He is said to have been part of a firearms training team by alleged mastermind Tiger Memon and had conducted a recce of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the BMC to decide where the bombs should be placed. He was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment in June 2007 and is currently in Aurangabad jail. The property deal was done in September 2005.
Another person associated with the underworld was Salim Patel, Parkar’s bodyguard and driver.
What is Malik’s defense?
Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Malik, submitted that the remand application did not show any link between Malik and the “gang” (Dawood gang). Desai said a property transaction of 1999, when the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) was also not in force, is being used to create an impression that an elected representative of Maharashtra is involved in anti-national activities.
Desai said that Malik himself was the victim as the person who did not own the property had sold it. “Ms. Plumber claims abuse of her power of attorney by Patel. Where is Mr. Malik in this?” Desai said.
Earlier too, when former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleged that Malik had bought land from people linked to the underworld, the NCP minister had denied the allegations. Malik had said that there was a godown on Kurla’s land which was taken on lease from a plumber by his company, Solidus Investments Pvt Ltd. “She approached us and said that she wants to sell the land to us. We took ownership of the land and got it registered through Salim Patel, who had a power of attorney.
On Fadnavis’ claims about Shahwali Khan, Malik had said: “Khan’s father was a watchman in this complex and the family had managed to get his name on the property records claiming 300 meters of land. When we came to know about it, we gave them money to hand over their rights.”
What is Solidus Investments and how does it relate to Malik?
Solidus Investments Private Limited is a company established in 1973. Malik’s son Amir Nawab Malik and wife Mehjabeen Nawab Malik are listed as its two directors.