Image showing a handcuff and the word fraud. (For representational purposes.)
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Lucknow: Harshvardhan Jain, the self-styled ‘Baron’ of ‘Westarctica’, a micronation, not recognized by any country in the world, who was arrested a few days back, had made 162 trips abroad in the past 10 years and had close links with the controversial spiritual guru Chandraswamy and international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
According to the officials investigating the case, Jain might have been involved in Rs 300 crore fraud in connivance with Ehsan Ali Sayed, a fraudster, in Switzerland. The investigations have revealed that Ali duped several companies in Switzerland on the pretext of getting them loans and fled the country. Ali, who was born in Hyderabad, has secured Turkish citizenship and was said to be living in Dubai.
Sources said that the sleuths have recovered a diary from the office of Jain which allegedly contained details of his dealings with Chandraswamy and Ali.
Chandraswamy wielded much influence in the political circles in the 1980s and 90s and was considered to be close to former prime ministers Chandrashekhar, Narsimha Rao and V.P.Singh. He was arrested in 1996 on charges of financial embezzlement.
It was revealed that Chandraswamy had introduced Jain to Ali. The duo later formed 25 shell companies which were fronts for money laundering.
Ali ran a company ‘Western Advisory Group’ in Switzerland, which promised to get loans to the other companies in exchange for a brokerage fee. He fled from Switzerland after duping them to the tune of Rs 300 crore. Ali was arrested in London in 2022.
The STF was now investigating the involvement of Jain in the fraud.
Jain, who was arrested from Ghaziabad, claimed to be the self-styled ambassador of Westarctica, a micronation in Antarctica not recognized by any country and operated the embassy from a palatial bungalow in Kavi Nagar locality of Ghaziabad. Jain called himself Baron of Westarctica.
Jain used to flaunt his connections with the senior officials and politicians and had morphed photographs showing him with the President and the prime minister. He used to dupe people on the pretext of getting them jobs in foreign countries.