Noida emerges as hub of hawala deals in the guise of CSR

Several hawala rackets for laundering black money have been unearthed in Noida in the last few months. The business that is thriving in Noida, has made it a hub of hawala deals.

With the increase in business in hi-tech city Noida, the network of the hawala business is also increasing. The Noida police has unearthed three to four such big hawala rackets in the last one year.

From the investigation, it has been revealed that converting black money into white is being done continuously in Noida under the new hawala module, in which many big shell companies of Noida are also involved.

The Noida Police Commissionerate has busted two hawala rackets in the last one week. One had connections with Jaipur, in which Rs 10 lakh has been found, although it was just token money and the deal was to be of Rs 2 crore. The other one has a Patna connection, in which Rs 50 lakh has been unearthed.

Before this, the Sector 58 police had seized more than Rs 3 crore from hawala traders of Gujarat, Delhi and Mumbai. The accused were allegedly trying to convert black money into white by forging CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) fund.

The accused arrested in Noida were giving cash by taking CSR funds of many companies in India and abroad in their shell companies on 33 per cent commission.

Central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate probe hawala deals. Besides the IB and ED, the Income Tax Department has also been roped in to investigate the hawala cases in which arrests have been made in Noida.

It has been found during the investigation by many agencies that Noida is fast becoming a new centre for hawala business.

What is CSR?

Domestic and overseas companies have to give a fixed amount under the CSR fund for social work on behalf of the government. Under CSR, big companies have to spend crores of rupees. In such a situation, the accused used to contact the owners of a big company and put a part of their CSR fund in their fake company and used to convert the cash from black to white by showing their money spent in social work. Showing the CSR fund in their balance sheet, many big companies also get rebate in tax.