The Supreme Court on 30^th September cancelled the bail which had been granted to Hawala dealer Hasan Ali Khan who had been arrested for an offense under Prevention of Corruption Act.  Hasan Ali Khan had been taken into custody 6 months back and the Bombay High Court had granted him bail on August 12. The order of Bombay High Court had been suspended previously by the Supreme Court on an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate. A bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar on this Friday, 30^September after hearing submissions from both the sides decided that the order of the High Court had to be interfered with and thus the bail granted was cancelled. The fact that Hasan Ali has multiple passports issued in his name for the purpose of operating his bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore with deposits estimated over Rs 36,000 crore was the basis for this decision as it strongly supported the apprehension that he may abscond to abroad once the bail is granted.

The Supreme Court took the stand that a man who maintains more than 3 passports with him will have no trouble to flee away once the bail is granted. It is more likely that if so, Hasan Ali Khan may even draw off the alleged illegal money stashed abroad. The investigation agency had evidences to show that Hasan Ali has got a new passport made at Patna when Hyderabad Court had cancelled his passports previously and had opened new account in Singapore to move all the money from his Swiss bank account.  The transactions made through his accounts indicate that Hasan Ali Khan maintains links with notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. It had been alleged that in 2003 Hasan Ali Khan had in fact received USD 300 million from Khashoggi from weapon sales.

Hasan Ali bail cancelled by the Supreme Court

Report by Lydia Chitra Jacob