MUMBAI, DECEMBER 8: Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Saturday arrested one Sevantilal Mafatlal Shah for alleged money laundering by faking exports of a chemical, pseudoionone, to Russia. The officers discovered that Shah had been using the same consignment for reimport and export, declaring varying values, and receiving remittance from Russia though the port of discharge was Dubai.Shah, who is a partner in M/s Seva Enterprises, Perin Nariman Street, had imported 28.8 tonne of the chemical in January 1998, after which it was kept in the bonded warehouse, to be exported for one World Trade Impex, to Zao Termoecostroi, in Russia. The consignment was discharged however, at Dubai. Also, while the value declared at the time of export was Rs 2.44 cr, when again the chemical was reimported from Dubai against an advance licence, the value declared was Rs 1.65 cr.On his questioning, Shah allegedly admitted that he was laundering the funds of World Trade Impex, since he was already doingbusiness with various parties in Russia. He had not however, explained who he was using to send the money to Russia. He admitted to having arranged the letters of credit, etc.DRI officers also told the court that Shah had allegedly fraudulently claimed duty drawback from customs to the tune of Rs 30 lakh for purported exports of garments. While some of these were highly overvalued, the purchase bill of one such export consignment was admittedly bogus, the officers told the court.
