- India’s Enforcement Directorate is currently investigating crypto-related fraud.
- Companies’ money laundering technique involves investing in Dubai’s real estate market using crypto.
- The illegal money is sent back to India through remittances.
A major crypto-related fraud is currently being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate of India. As reported in local news, the ED has found five companies that are involved in money laundering between Dubai and India.
The aforementioned companies have used crypto to invest in Dubai’s real estate market; the investment is then transferred to the Indian market via remittances.
According to ED sources, one of the companies involved is Zanmi Labs LTD, also known as WazirX. In India, the company operates a trading platform that allows people to buy, sell, and trade crypto.
Those companies used to launder money by investing in properties in India in exchange for gold, but now they are turning to crypto as a means to hide their illegal funds and using crypto to invest in properties in Dubai.
ED has shared that it has seized more than 14,450 million rupees (India’s currency) in crypto-related fraud. A senior officer stated, “Because thousands of crores of rupees are being laundered in countries such as the United States, only a small amount of transactions are allowed. But here, this involves transactions in thousands of crores of rupees, which are only possible by investing them in Dubai’s property market.”
Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State for Finance, mentioned that ED is investigating many crypto fraud cases where crypto exchanges have been involved in money laundering. Recently, the ED arrested 20 people associated with crypto fraud.
In related news, on May 31, the UAE Central Bank released some guidelines to be able to detect money laundering. The guidelines focused on handling digital assets such as crypto and NFTs.
On March 21, Indian regulators identified difficulty with enforcing money laundering laws and flagged the issue as a critical risk in the crypto ecosystem. Crypto assets are reportedly a challenge to regulate, and “the fact that the crypto ecosystem is open to more than geographical boundaries exacerbates the problem.
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