Swiss bank UBS denies any dealings with Hasan Ali Khan

"The documentation supposedly corroborating such allegations is false. UBS does not have accounts for, or any assets of Khan, and has no knowledge of any of the alleged transactions referred to in the recent media reports," the bank said in a statement issued here today.

On February 11, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to ensure that Khan did not leave the country in connection with the black money case. The bank also claimed that in January 2007, following a request for information from Indian authorities, UBS had informed the Swiss justice department that the documents purporting to be from UBS, and suggesting that Khan was holding assets with it, were forged.

Following investigation, the Swiss justice department and federal banking commission were fully satisfied that there was no basis for the allegations and it was established that documents were forged, the statement claimed.

In January 2009, the Mumbai income-tax department had issued notices to Hasan Ali Khan, a Pune-based real estate consultant and stud farm owner, who is the prime accused in the cases involving a USD 8 billion (around 37,000-crore) money laundering, and tax evasion.

Income Tax department had sent a show-cause notice on December 31, 2008 to Khan, demanding Rs 40,000 crore in tax from him for not disclosing funds in several foreign bank accounts, including USD 8 billion in an account in the Zurich branch of UBS.

Earlier, in January 2007, the IT department had raided Khan's residence at Koregaon Park in Pune and had seized documents that showed that he had USD 8.04 billion in a UBS account in Zurich.

The raid followed a revelation that Khan had allegedly concealed his income and not filed income tax returns since 1999. The Department also raided his properties in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, as of December 8, 2006, Khan had USD 8.04 billion in the UBS account. The ED figure was sourced from a 2006 letter by a UBS wealth management executive which had said "Khan can withdraw USD 6 billion and was free to invest this amount as and when he chooses to do so and that the balance amount of USD 2.04 billion would remain bound with UBS until January 15, 2007, after which Khan was free to invest the same as and when he chooses to do so."