Mumbai: Income-Tax officials interrogated Hassan Ali for more than five hours on Thursday. He is being investigated for alleged money laundering and tax evasion, amounting to more than Rs 35,000 crore.
I-T officials had reportedly questioned Ali once before on March 5. He was also questioned by the I-T sleuths earlier in Pune for over four hours. Ali is suspected to be a key hawala operator.
While the details of the investigation were not available, I-T department sources said Ali has not filed his income tax returns since 1999 and the department has asked him to file tax returns for a block period of last eight years.
Ali had last filed I-T returns till around 1999, after which the details were not clear and being gathered by investigators, I-T sources said.
The I-T department is also investigating his various immovable assets, including hard cash. Ali, a stud-farm owner by profession, owns property in Mumbai and Pune.
Sources in the Income Tax department say on Thursday Ali was questioned about his Swiss Bank accounts tracked by I-T officers from his computer hard disc.
Smartly dressed in spotless white kurta and sporting shades, Ali left the Director General Investigations' office in a sleek Mercedes late in the evening.
To evade the waiting media, he sped away in his car after coming out through the back door of the office at Scindia House in South Mumbai and refused to speak to reporters who chased him.
Senior I-T officials, including DG (Investigations) SN Moorthy, declined to say what questions were put to Ali during the interrogation.
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