Ayyan among many showbiz figures accused of money laundering

LAHORE: The Dubai-born Pakistani super model Ayyan Ali, arrested in a money-laundering case 78 days ago, is not the only showbiz celebrity in the world to have been accused of this crime in recent years as the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Rajnikanth and eminent Hollywood financial adviser Kenneth Starr have all faced serious allegations of whitening the grey or ill-gotten cash.
Due to turn 22 on July 30, Ayyan Ali has been the brand ambassador for various mobile phone companies, a known ice cream brand, a globally-marketed shampoo, a leading car manufacturer and an international food chain. Still looking for a bail from the court, Ayyan was caught carrying over half a million dollars at the Islamabad airport on March 14, 2015.
A prestigious British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ had reported: “She was charged with attempting to illegally transport more than the legal $10,000 cash limit out of the country on March 14 and has been in a Rawalpindi prison since. Ali was last seen in public wearing an ‘uncharacteristic’ black burka outside the court as a horde of fellow models gathered nearby.”
Like Ayyan Ali, a fairly well-known yet tainted Indian actress, Leena Maria Paul, also cherishes her childhood memories connected to Dubai. Both have been alleged of being involved in criminal activities in a bid to earn a quick buck.
Indian actress Leena Maria Paul was arrested in May 2013 over a Rs190 million fraud that involved cheating a Chennai bank and buying nine luxury cars (including a Rolls Royce Phantom) with the proceeds.
(Reference: The May 28, 2013 edition of Mail Online)
In October 2009, an 11-page FIR was registered against a leading Indian politician and former Samajwadi Party stalwart Amar Singh, his wife Pankaja and the great Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan under sections 420, 467, 471 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code; sections 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 (1) (C) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 3/4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
On October 17, 2009, a top Indian newspaper ‘The Hindu’ had reported: “The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by one Shivakant Tripathi at the Babupurwa Police Station in Kanpur.”
In June 2011, the Indian Enforcement Directorate had also sent a notice to Amitabh Bachchan in the Rs5 billion money-laundering case. The plaintiff Shivakant Tripathi had contended in his police application that during his tenure as Uttar Pradesh Development Council between 2003 and 2007, politician Amar Singh had allegedly accumulated a wealth of billions at the expense of the exchequer through shell companies.
Amar Singh, who, interestingly, was also a member of the Indian parliament’s Select Committee on Prevention of Money Laundering Bill between December 1999 and July 2000, had been accused of delivering multi-million dollar contracts to some chosen industrialists, who had allegedly paid kickbacks to him.
Six private firms—M/s Energy Development Company Ltd, M/s EDCL Power Project Ltd, M/s Pankaja Arts & Credit Ltd, M/s Sarvottam Caps Ltd, M/s EDCL Infrastructure Ltd and M/s Ester (India) Chemical Ltd—had been named in the police complaint.
Meanwhile, the “Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative,” a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, had reported: “According to press reports, Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, his wife Pankaja and actor Amitabh Bachchan have been named in a complaint lodged at Babupurva Police Station in Kanpur for alleged financial fraud amounting to about Rs500 crores. According to an October 17, 2009, article in the ‘Indian Express’, the FIR claims Amar Singh and others had created shell companies and illegally amalgamated firms using fake documents to launder black money during the last Samajwadi Party regime.”
On July 31, 2011, the ‘Hindustan Times’ had reported that the official probe had found no evidence against Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Amar Singh and his wife in the 2009 fraud and money laundering case lodged against them.
The Indian Enforcement Directorate, which also probed the case, had said on September 11, 2012, that there was no substance in the allegations.
In January 2014, the “Zee News” had aired a report saying that the complainant Shiva Kant Tripathi had decided not to pursue this case on account of ill-health.
In May 2001, as part of a continuing investigation into allegations that major Indian crime figures had laundered money through film producers in Bollywood, famous film star Salman Khan was questioned by authorities in Mumbai, presumably about the payments he had received for appearing in a film”Chori Chori Chupke Chupke” that was financed by a much-feared crime lord.
The film’s producer Bharat Shah, a diamond merchant, was arrested in 2001 following an investigation into whether the above-cited film he had financed was actually funded by the Indian mafia. This arrest had led to Shah’s conviction in 2003 for not disclosing fellow producer Nazim Rizwi’s links to the Indian underworld. Consequently, Nazim Rizwi and his assistant, Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan, were also convicted.
Nazim Shah was sentenced to one year in jail, but since he had already spent 14 months in jail as part of his trial, he was set free. Nazim Rizwi and Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan were sentenced to six years’ rigorous imprisonment each and had to pay a fine of Indian Rupees five hundred thousand.
In January 2003, while appearing as a witness in the above-mentioned Bharat Shah case, actor Salman Khan had turned hostile in a special court, saying he had not received any threat to act in the film “Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.”
He had also failed to identify accused Abdul Rahim Allah Baksh, sitting in the dock.
(Reference: The January 7, 2003 report of Rediff.com, which is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal)
Money-whitening accusations against Salman Khan had also surfaced after he had allegedly purchased an Indian Rupees 200 million apartment with black money in a building named ‘The Address,’ which was situated at Mumbai’s Bullock Cart Road.
A former Indian Police Service official YP Singh had alleged that on paper, Salman had purchased the flat measuring 1079.95 square feet and had paid an exact price of Rs200 million at the rate of Indian Rs1.80 lakh per square feet, which was more than the then prevailing market price of Rs 25,000-Rs30,000 per square feet.
On paper, YP Singh told the media, the property measured only 1079.95 square feet, but the space actually occupied was around 8,000 square feet, which was deceiving.
There was a dedicated parking at the eleventh floor with a personal swimming pool.
On February 26, this year, the ‘Times of India’ had reported: “An under-construction luxury tower, ‘The Address’, at Bandra Bandstand (Mumbai), is being completely razed because of large-scale building violations. People like actor Salman Khan and Congress leader Kripashankar Singh’s son, Sanjay, had paid upwards of Rs20 crore each for the sprawling apartments.”
The key Indian newspaper had further stated: “A copy of the sale agreement of actor Salman Khan’s flat, made available to the Times of India, is highly revealing. The carpet area of Khan’s flat on the eleventh floor shows an area of just 1,079 sq ft. However, the agreement shows another 1,917sq ft of car park adjacent to the flat and an additional affiliated area of 6,766sq ft. These “affiliated areas” include lobby, swimming pool, elevation features and large refuge areas.”
In August 2009, the Sri Lankan government has accused one of India’s biggest film stars, Rajnikanth, of being bankrolled by Tamil Tiger “blood money.”
Abdul Rishad Bathiudeen, the then Sri Lankan Disaster Relief Minister, had provoked the controversy when he had gone on to claim that some of Rajnikanth’s films were funded by the Tamil Tigers.
(Reference: The August 20, 2009 edition of Daily Telegraph)
The daily ‘Telegraph’ had stated: “Rajnikanth is second only to Hollywood star Jackie Chan in the Asian film rich list. Despite appearing only in Tamil films and being outside the Bollywood mainstream, he earns far more than its biggest star Amitabh Bachchan, and each of his new films sell out in hours. Today, he is believed to have a vast fortune based on high profit-related fees. For his recent hit, “Shivaji the Boss,” he was paid £3.2 million plus a 40 percent share of its vast box office earnings.”
Early this year, as the ‘Times of India’ and the ‘Hindustan Times’ had reported, an actress Neetu Agarwal was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police in connection with the smuggling of 34 logs of precious sandalwood in the state.
Kenneth Ira Starr, the financial adviser to numerous Hollywood stars, including Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of using at least $35 million in clients’ money to fund his extravagant lifestyle— including a $7.5-million condominium.
The May 28, 2010, edition of the ‘Los Angeles Times’ had revealed: “Kenneth Starr, 66, was charged with fraud and money laundering and held without bail in alleged schemes that siphoned money from wealthy clients, who were not named in the criminal complaint.” Sentenced in March 2011, Starr is currently serving out his 7.5-year prison term and is due to be released in 2016, pending good behaviour.
In April 2013, the British police had arrested the parents of the famous “X Factor” star Ella Henderson after raiding the family home as part of a money-laundering investigation.
The ‘Daily Mail’ had reported: “Officers swooped on two large detached houses owned by the teenage singer’s father Sean Henderson, 47, and mother Michelle, 49, in the village of Tetney, near Grimsby.”
It is an established fact that while the Indian film fraternity-politician-mafia nexus has been there for a very long time, there are suspicions that not different is the case in Pakistan where strong connections between showbiz personalities, political stalwarts and the underworld also exist!
As far as Bollywood’s connection to the underworld is concerned, the March 28, 2013 edition of the ‘New York Times’ had stated that in 2011, a leaked Wikileaks cable issued by the US consulate in Mumbai had shed light on the Indian film industry’s ties to the country’s dreaded underworld.
The ‘New York Times’ report had said: “The industry also welcomed funds from gangsters and politicians, looking for ways to launder their ill-gotten gains, known in India as ‘black money,’ said the cable. After the government added the film industry to the list of legitimate industries, the corporatisation of Bollywood – and the wider entertainment industry – began.”
Actors like Hrithik Roshan, Govinda and Amrish Puri, as well as the director Karan Johar, had opted to seek police protection after receiving death threats from the underworld.
In 2011, the ‘Times of India’ had said that actor-producer Sohail Khan, producer Ritesh Sidhwani and actor Vivek Oberoi were also threatened by mafia dons.
The newspaper had added that in 2011, some six film personalities had received extortion demands asking for sums up to 50 million rupees, but had not lodged any official complaints out of fear.
The list, however, is believed to be much longer than just six names.
According to Page 25 of the July 12, 2012, edition of the Times of India, a sting operation, titled “The really dirty picture” was conducted by a news channel on a few A-list Bollywood producers, directors and actors to find out whether money laundering happened as part of business transactions or not.
The names that had cropped up in the sting operation had included big players like Director Anubhav Sinha, producers Vashu Bhagnani and Aneez Bazmee, and actors Sangram Singh and Payal Rohatgi.
All of them were shown as having said on camera that a large part of the transactions in film business happened in black (in cash).