Distancing themselves from beleaguered businessman Hasan Ali Khan alias Syed Mohammed Hasan Ali Khan, the

National Horse Breeding Society of India (NHBSI) and

Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) told DNA that Khan is not a stud farm owner.

“The media has been wrongly reporting that Khan is a stud farm owner,” chairman, RWITC, Vivek Jain, told DNA on Saturday.

In a letter addressed to DNA on Friday, the president of the NHBSI, Dr FF Wadia, said, “Khan has been repeatedly and erroneously described in the media as a ‘stud farm
owner’.

As the representative body of all stud farms in India, may we clarify that Khan does not own any stud farm in India wholly or in part.”

Seconding the stand, registrar of the Stud Book Authority of India, Satish Iyer, also said, that Khan does not own any stud farm.

Khan (58), who hails from Hyderabad, is the son of an excise inspector. He has five siblings (one brother and four sisters).

Brought up in Hyderabad, Khan lived with his former wife Mehbooba Khan and two sons in the posh Banjara Hills locality before he divorced his wife in 1999 and shifted to
Pune in 2000.

Khan ran a successful car rental agency in Shahjahan Apartments, Khairatabad, before moving to Pune.

He married his present wife Rheema, a sister of horse trainer, Faisal Abbas, in 2000. The couple has a six-year-old son.

(With inputs from Sandip Dighe)

Hasan Ali Khan

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 This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2010)

Hasan Ali Khan or Syed mohammed Hassan Ali Khan[1] is a 56-year-old stud-farm owner based in India and allegedly worth USD 8-9 billion
or more according to police-authorities. Some news-sources claim that he might be the fourth richest person in India, surpassing even software
czar Azim Premji.[2]

Disclosing the list of defaulters in the Rajya Sabha on 4 August 2009, the Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written
reply that Hassan Ali Khan tops the list of tax defaulters with an outstanding arrear of more than Rs 50,000 crore.[3] Former Union Minister and
BJP MP Arun Shourie said that Ali Khan has been known to be connected to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, known to have been channeling
very large amounts from unknown sources into the Indian stock market and had 8 to 9 billion dollars in the UBS and other banks of Switzerland,
and has been responsible for hawala transactions of over Rs. 35,000 crore through Swiss banks.[4] When asked if Hassan Ali is likely to be
arrested, India Today editor Prabhu Chawla said that he doesn't "have much hope" citing that getting Swiss banks to disclose details is not easy
as India hasn't signed a treaty with the Swiss government.[5]

Contents

 1 Claims and allegations

 1.1 Money laundering
 1.2 Other allegations
 1.3 Convictions and court-cases
 1.4 Current enquiry
 2 Biography
 2.1 Personal life
  2.2 Small beginnings to commanding heights
 2.2.1 Relationship with Adnan Khashoggi
 2.2.2 How his bank account swelled
 3 See also
 4 External links

 5 References

Claims and allegations

Money laundering
Officers in investigating agencies in India claimed that this stud farm owner could be the latest unknown rich businessman on the block. He was
found to have operated Swiss accounts involving over Rs 1.5 lakh-crore($32 billion). The income tax department has levied a tax of Rs
71,848($15.6 billion) crore on him for concealing Indian income secreted in Swiss accounts. His wealth is said to be in the region of anything
between USD 8-9 billion or much more, and most of it unaccounted.[6] He allegedly stashed US$ 8 billion in his Swiss bank accounts (mostly in
UBS[7][8]) through money-laundering. His wife Reema and her brother Faisal Abbas have allegedly helped him hide since 2007. Khan's lawyer
Majid Memon said "his client was not in touch with him" as of 17 August 2008.[9] He was a Pune-resident and horse trading circles describe him
as a smart punter but a small time horse owner.[10]

Along with his partner Kashinath Tapuriah, Ali allegedly opened two fictitious companies Autumn Holdings and Paysons in the Virgin Islands
and laundered money to the tune of US $280 million.[11]

A year after he was raided, the US $8 billion man still roamed free.[12]

The reluctance of these top Swiss banks mentioned above to help Indian investigators is slowing the unravelling of an intricate multinational trail
of money transfers—across Switzerland, New York, the British Virgin Islands and Pune—between an Indian horse owner and a fugitive Saudi
arms dealer, according to officials in the Enforcement Directorate, the government body that investigates economic crimes. Investigators from
the ED, who recently claim to have found $8 billion in the Swiss bank accounts of Hasan Ali Khan, say they now have evidence of a $300
million transfer to him (via a Chase Manhattan bank account in New York) from billionaire Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, whose arms
supplies to Tamil terrorists, the LTTE, were revealed during an investigation into the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The government has
told the Bombay high court that the Khans are “virtually absconding” and if they are allowed to leave India, investigations could collapse.
Khan’s counsel, Milind Sathe, said his client “regularly appeared before the Directorate”. Asked where Khan was, his main lawyer, Mugdha
Jadhav, said: “Can’t tell you, sorry.” [13]

Other allegations
Police sources in Hyderabad aver that he had also laid hands on some jewellery of the family of Nizams and siphoned them off. "There is no
police complaint on this because much of the Nizam's riches have gone missing over the years," sources said. The value of the jewellery he
pilfered is not known and neither the parties that he sold them to.[14]

He has 10 cases lodged against him ,ranging from cheating to con games to extortion. There a case of in which he is suspected of throwing, or
arranging to throw acid on a paediatrician Dr. P Niranjan Rao of Punjagutta in Hyderabad. By the time he got into the havala business, he was a
well known but shady figure.[15]

His first hawala operation came unstuck. He was tasked to get back into the country monies of a deadman locked up in a Singapore bank.
Though he failed he came in contact with a bigger operator called Kanti Das Tapadia (sic).[16]

Adnan Khashoggi transferred US $300 million from his Chase Manhattan Bank account in New York into Hassan Ali's United Bank of
Switzerland account in Zurich. The Swiss authorities froze the account saying that the Funds were from weapons sale. Ali and his close associate
Kashinath Tapuriah then adopted different techniques to try and make this account operational. The link to Khashoggi adds a new dimension to
the investigation into Ali. Khashoggi is known in India as one of those named in the Jain Commisison of enquiry into the Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination and globally for brokering arms deals between the US and Saudi Arabia. Investigators say that this only convinces them of Ali's
wide range of operations and contacts.[17]

Convictions and court-cases

The oldest case against Hasan Ali pertained to an acid attack on a doctor, his neighbour, in 1984. Dr P Niranjan Rao's face was disfigured and he
had to undergo 30 surgeries. Since the police could not trace the records relating to the case, it is not clear whether Hasan Ali was arrested and
acquitted in this case.[18]

Khan was arrested, convicted, but subsequently acquitted in some bank-fraud and similar fraud cases amounting to Rs. 2 crore (USD 500,000) in
the early 1990s.[19] What happened: In 1990, the manager of State Bank of India, Charminar branch, had lodged a complaint stating that Hasan
Ali had fraudulently withdrawn a total of Rs 26 lakh on three occasions against cheques that later bounced. A similar case was lodged for
defrauding the Grindlays Bank. In September 1991, the central government had announced an amnesty scheme wherein it allowed Indian
citizens to get foreign exchange from outside. Subsequently at least four persons approached Hasan Ali, who promised them demand drafts in
dollars. He had allegedly collected Rs 10.35 lakh from Suresh Mehta, Rs 6.29 lakh from Rajesh Gupta, Rs 36 lakh from T Ramnath and Rs
18.22 lakh from P Rama Koteswara Rao. He then produced 'international money orders' and handed over demand drafts to them to encash the
dollars. However, the customers found the DDs to be fake and lodged complaints with the police in 1992. He was subsequently acquitted and a
police commissioner said, "No case is pending against him as all the previous cases were disposed of by the courts."[20]

Khan now faces a whooping Rs 1 L cr fine for acquiring Rs 36000 crores or more in assets.[21][22]

Current enquiry
As of 13 April 2010, a letter rogatory is to be issued by the magistrate’s court in India to the Swiss police, which will present it to the authorities
in Switzerland. The Swiss court will decide whether the request by the Indian authorities is to be complied with. Ever since the I-T authorities
raided his premises in 2007, it has been speculated that the money allegedly deposited by Mr Khan in Swiss Banks in fact belonged to
politicians and industrialists and that Mr Khan was only a conduit who facilitated the transfer of the money from India, apparently on a
commission basis.[23]

Biography
Hailing from a Hyderabadi family based at Musheerabad, Hasan Ali has a brother and four sisters.[24] Born in 1953 and brought up in Hyderabad,
Khan lived with his wife Mahbooba Khan in the posh Banjara Hills before he divorced her and shifted to Pune 10 years ago after marrying his
present wife Rheema, sister of a horse-trainer, Faisal Abbas. The couple have a six-year-old son. Better known in the racing circles as H.A.
Khan, he owns 10 horses, besides two floors in the swanky Tulip Apartments of Valentina Society in Pune's Koregaon Park and a flat in Anand
Darshan building in the upmarket Peddar Road in Mumbai. He also owns two Mercedes and a Porsche.[25]

Come horse-racing season, and Khan would shuttle between Pune and Mumbai. A pastime associated with the rich and famous, horse-racing
was Khan's obsession as well, though he was not inclined to hobnob with the glitterati of the race course. A rather quaint figure, he could be seen
occupying the last corner seats with wife Rheema. Even his horses gave the spotlight a miss, garnering only a few second-rung trophies. Khan's
routine at the race course was without deviation. Fitted out in his trademark Safari suit, he would reach sharp at 11 am and leave by 3 pm. For
someone who the i-t Department claims enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle, Khan wasn't even famous within the racing circles. "Of our members,
he kept the most low profile, preferring not to interact with anyone," says Vivek Jain, committee member of the Royal Western India Turf Club
(RWITC) at Mumbai. Low-key in life, he displayed a modest taste when acquiring thoroughbreds, opting for the comparatively cheap grade four
variety priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1 lakh. He did not own any stud farm, instead preferring to pay maintenance charges of Rs 15,000 per
horse to the RWITC and the Pune Turf Club. Jain finds it incredible that he could have made money through betting. If not betting, then what?
That's the question dogging the I-T Department.[26]

Swiss connections of the horse-owner came to light during raids at his Pune and Mumbai residences between January 5 and 7 by the Income Tax
(I-T) Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). A laptop seized from the Mumbai address, together with Rs 85 lakh in cash, sent the
53-year-old Khan scurrying to Pune's Jehangir Hospital with severe chest pain. Not surprising, considering the laptop contained a list of 10
Swiss Bank accounts reportedly stashed with over Rs 20,000 crore-all of it unaccounted for. According to I-T sources, the money came from
hawala transactions Khan conducted for politicians and businessmen. "He was a hawala operator who shipped funds abroad to countries like
Mauritius and Madagascar and then re-routed the money to India through bogus companies in order to evade tax," an official said, requesting
anonymity. Links with terrorists and the underworld are also not being ruled out. The cash, it is suspected, was being parked by Arabs who, after
the 9/11 World Trade Center bombings, were finding it difficult to invest with European and UK banks.[27]

Personal life
Hailing from a Hyderabadi family based at Musheerabad, Hassan Ali has a brother and four sisters. His father was an excise-officer. He married
Mahboobunnissa Begum and divorced her in 1999. He got his elder daughter married off in a good Muslim family in Banjara Hills. From his
humble parental abode at Mushirabad, he moved to Shahjahan Apartments in Khairatabad. He ran a successful car rental agency in Shahjahan
Apartments. He came in touch with Mr. S. A. Alam, manager of State Bank of India, Charminar Branch, Hyderabad and with the help of his
joint acquaintances - P.R.Khan and Azad Khan, in the course of his export business. He moved to the posh Banjara Hills area and acquired
properties during the economic boom. His second wife Reema belonged to the famous 'Poonavala' family.

Small beginnings to commanding heights

Khan has an unsavoury past. This is going by his record in Hyderabad, where he lived till the mid-nineties. There are two sparingly varying
accounts:

 According to Khan’s account to investigating agencies, his father was an excise officer in Hyderabad, where Khan studied till Class 12,
and went on to sell antiques, claiming to be a descendant of the Nizam’s family. He then started a car rental service in 1970, before
switching, in 1988, to a metal trading business in Dubai. Khan said this business, called Great Ventures, closed down in 1993. Meanwhile,
Khan entered the world of horse racing in Hyderabad in 1991 with only two horses. Then in 1994, he began racing at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi
racecourse, where he also was a punter. Soon, he expanded his horse racing activities to Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Police say his
horses even began racing in Switzerland and London. Khan has reportedly won four races and was also a member of the Royal Western India
Turf Club (RWITC), Pune. According to Imtiyaz Sait, a trainer at the RWITC, Khan used to sit alone in a corner of the members’ enclosure
 at the racecourse. “None of us knew him well. He kept to himself,” Sait said. Many of his other ventures were failures. After closing down
the car rental and then a scrap business, Khan started a jewellery shop in Kuwait in partnership with a man called Hussain from Jammu and
Kashmir in 2006-07. Pune Police say they interrogated Khan in March 2007 soon after his name appeared in the media for his alleged
involvement in the multi-crore hawala racket.[28]

 According to other people’s account to investigating agencies, as his family had fallen on bad times in the 1970s, he started out as a
tuitions teacher but subsequently started cheating people and banks. He was also a suspect in a case of throwing acid on a doctor in the city
and in a hawala racket case. From being a trickster, he graduated to be a cheat and then a bank scamster. From there he became a hawala
operator and ultimately an international money laundering racketeer, people who have known him in Hyderabad told TOI. People who know
him from the 70s said his family had fallen on bad times and he had begun giving tuitions.[29]

From a humble beginning as a punter at the Mahalaxmi race course in Mumbai, Khan soon became a horse owner and was even involved in
several failed ventures: a travel agency, a car-wash plant that never took off, a metal trading company named Great Ventures that went bankrupt
and a business in selling artefacts. When trading in artefacts, he would claim to be a descendent of the royal Nizams and try to pass off white
marble statues from Makrana of recent origin as antiques. His legally viable ventures would inevitably perish. It was during this time that Khan
came in contact with Kashinath Tapadia, son-in-law of the late Priyamvada Birla of the Birla business house. I-T sources, who have also
questioned Tapadia, claim the duo ran the hawala business as partners and the money was routed through Tapadia to the beneficiaries. The two
also allegedly donned the mantle of invisible investors in Indian equity markets. Sources say Khan used Participatory notes to invest in the
capital and commodity markets. (Participatory notes can be traded like stocks and sold as notes. These transactions are, at times, untraceable.)
Among his close associates was hotelier Phillip Anandraj, who owns the Korma Sutra in Zurich. Anandraj, who was interrogated by the ED, is
known for his political connections and, say sources, could have been involved in the hawala racket.[30]

Khan first opened an account with UBS Singapore in 1982 with just $1.5 million and after some time received $300m in this account allegedly
from Khashoggi’s Chase Manhattan bank account in New York. Why this bank-transfer was made is unknown [31] Khan has been given one
month’s time to reply to a show-cause notice to explain how his funds grew from an initial deposit of $1.5 million in 1982 to a balance of $8
billion by 2006.[32]

Relationship with Adnan Khashoggi

The ED has traced Khan’s alleged transaction with Adnan Khashoggi through a notarized statement of Khan signed on 29 June 2003 in London.
The document contains a letter written by Khan to Prabhu Guptara, director, Organizational Development, Woflsberg Executive Development
Centre, Switzerland (a subsidiary of UBS), explaining why one of his Swiss accounts had been tagged with the remark: ‘Funds from weapons
sales’, and had been made inoperable. The letter explained the circumstances in which Khan first opened an account with UBS Singapore in
1982 with $1.5 million, through Retro Hartmann of UBS Singapore and then how allegedly Dr Peter Weilly, porfolio manager of Khashoggi,
virtually took over as his manager. Khan had received $300m in this account allegedly from Khashoggi’s Chase Manhattan bank account in New
York. After the document was notarized by a UK notary on June 29, 2003, Khan seems to have allegedly reported his Indian passport as lost in
London and acquired a new passport there. A copy of the first page of the old passport is enclosed with the notarised document. The probe has
also thrown up ‘evidence’ against Khan’s associate Kashinath Tapuria, who has said that two politicians, one of them a senior Congressman, had
referred Khan to him during his days of financial difficulties.[33]

How his bank account swelled

Evidence from a June 2003 document recovered by the agencies, duly notarised by the Notary Public of London[34][35]

• Khan had started an account with a deposit of $1.5 million with UBS Singapore in 1982.[36] The recommendation for opening the specified
bank-account was organised by Dr Peter Weilly through arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, whose portfolio was handled by Weilly

• A payment of $240 million (allegedly from Adnan Khashoggi's Chase Manhattan Bank account in New York)[37] was approved by Weilly and
accepted by Reto Hartman at UBS Singapore

• After the $240 million transaction, the account moved from UBS Singapore to UBS Zurich in 1986
• By December 1997, the deposit amount reached $560 million. Due to certain problems, Khan could not operate this account (Swiss authorities
froze the account saying that the "Funds were from weapons sale.")[38]

• By 1999, the same account mysteriously increased to $969 million (~ US$ 1 billion). Most of this money is lying as liquid cash and bonds[39]

• As on August 31, 2006, the balance in the account was US$6.6 billion

• Balance as on November 2, 2006: $7.7 billion

• Balance as on December 8, 2006: $8.04 billion

ED’s findings included Khan’s plan to finance a $500 million project of Khashoggi that was contained in a notarized document signed by him on
29 June 2003 in London. A notarized document is certified by a licensed public officer who serves as an impartial witness and establishes the
authenticity of the signatures. The two transfers of $1.6 billion and $7 million that are said to have come to light recently were carried out in
November 2006 through correspondent banking, an arrangement where one bank makes or receives payments on behalf of another. The money
was transferred from Bank Sarasin to a US branch of Citibank NA, then to Barclays Plc in the UK and finally deposited in a firm in the UK. ED
is now conducting fresh inquiries into the matter. Khan has challenged the tax authority’s demand for unpaid taxes in the income tax appellate
tribunal. The case will come up for hearing on 21 July 2010.[40