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Letters rogatory sent to Swiss for details on Ketan Parekh's account

India has sent letters rogatory (letters of request) to Switzerland seeking details of the bank account of big bull Ketan Parekh, one of the main accused in the multi-million-rupee pay order scam, agency sources said on Wednesday.

The sources said the letters rogatory had been sent through the designated court in Bombay after receiving a request for the same from the Ministry of External Affairs.

The request was routed through diplomatic channel to Swiss authorities for execution.

The account, said to have millions of Swiss francs deposited in it, had been frozen by the Swiss authorities after the CBI made a request to Interpol for an international probe into the alleged siphoning off of money from India, the sources said.

The letters rogatory has sought complete details about the account of Parekh which includes the transactions made since its opening, beneficiaries of the account and the actual amount deposited in the bank, the sources said.

It also sought a thorough investigation by Swiss authorities into the route through which the money reached Switzerland, they said.

The agency suspected that Parekh had siphoned off the money, allegedly acquired from the Rs 10-billion scam involving Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank, to the Swiss bank.

They said the Money Laundering Reporting Officer of Switzerland was given the information in June this year and as a follow up, the Swiss authorities informed the CBI in July that an account of Ketan Parekh had been frozen.

Parekh had opened the account in collaboration with a Bahamas-based Corporation, they said.

The Switzerland's Money Laundering Officer had informed the Interpol that an information received recently indicated that 'the money was routed to Switzerland through Bahamas', the sources said.

"The CBI got in touch with the Federal Department of Justice to further ascertain the facts and provide information to the agency and with active and prompt response, the Swiss authorities informed us about an account in Credit Suisse at Zurich," they said.

The money was routed to Switzerland through Bahamas, a tax haven, they said, adding the contracting partner of this account was a co-operation registered in Nassau, Bahamas.

The agency had also requested Swiss authorities to probe whether Parekh had some other bank accounts and if so to freeze them, the sources said.

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