India, Hong Kong bust money laundering racket via diamond trade
customs departments of India and Hong Kong have jointly busted a money-laundering network, where foreign currency was remitted out of India against import of cheap synthetic diamonds, the finance ministry said on Friday.
The racket involved Indian traders who were importing synthetic diamonds from Hong Kong by wrongly declaring them as real ones, it said. The two authorities have arrested four people each.
"Indian customs and Hong Kong customs have unearthed a major case of trade-based money laundering involving Hong Kong-based exporters and Indian importers located in (a) special economic zone in an exemplary case of bilateral cooperation and exchange of information," a finance ministry statement said.
Earlier this year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) detected a case where cheap synthetic diamonds were imported into India by overvaluing them more than 100 times, to remit foreign currency out of India.
