Click to play videoNew Delhi/New York: No paper trail, no identity required, no records kept and huge amounts of money can be sent from and to India without the government knowing.
A CNN-IBN-DIG investigation conducted in New York, London and New Delhi has found Western Union agents who transfer money through hawala channel and breach the stringent money transfer security protocols of the global financial services company.
The investigation’s first stop was businessman Somesh Duggal’s shop, Duggal Forex, in South Delhi’s INA Market. The CNN-IBN-DIG had learnt that Duggal, who owns a franchisee of Western Union, was using his shop for hawala. Undercover reporters told him they wanted to send $1,000 to relatives in New York without going through formal money transfer services.
When reporters told him the amount they wanted to send, he agreed to the deal and gave a phone number. The CNN-IBN-DIG team gave Duggal Rs 50,000 (approximately $1000) and he promised to transfer the amount to New York using a network of Western Union agents, who misuse the company’s network by offering customers the option of transferring money through hawala. (There are 30,000 Western Union outlets in India.)
Duggal then called agent in New York to say: “Madam ek na vahan 1000 dollar lene aayega New York mein, voh dilva do. Aniket Joshi naam bata raha hoon aapko. Main number bata raha hoon. Call kar dega aapko. Naam likh lo khali. Aniket Joshi. Main sir ka number use de raha hoon.” (Madam, a person will come for a thousand dollars. Pay him; his name is Aniket Joshi. I will send you information about him.)
The recipient of $1,000 in New York was asked to call a number and contact a man called Mohan Singh. CNN-IBN’s New York correspondent Anirudh Bhattacharya called Mohan Singh as Aniket Joshi and was asked to reach 17-55 Francis Lewis Boulevard, White Stones in Queens Borough, New York.
As soon as we reach the spot, the transaction happened in a flash. Bhattacharya walked away with $1,000 sent from Delhi without documentation and without the government knowing.
Western Union told CNN-IBN its agents are selected after checks. Suvodeep Das, Western Union’s marketing director in South Asia, said the company chooses agents after stringent evaluation. “Across the world we have recruited agents after a thorough security check. All abide by the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines,” said Das.
(With Anirudh Bhattacharya in New York and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar and Ravi Gautam in New Delhi. )
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