‘Westarctica envoy’ running Ghaziabad ‘embassy’ made 100 foreign trips in last 20 yrs—UP STF

He frequently visited the UAE and UK. He also made at least 6 trips to Seborga, an unrecognised principality in Italy’s Liguria province, of which he claimed to be ambassador.

The house with the high-end cars that Harsh Vardhan Jain used to flaunt his fake ambassadorial status | By special arrangement

New Delhi: The Ghaziabad man arrested on charges of running a fake embassy of fictitious “micronations” made more than 100 overseas trips in the last two decades, a majority of them between 2007 and 2009, a probe by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has found.

According to the details accessed by ThePrint, Harsh Vardhan Jain made about half of these 100 trips—47 to be precise—to the United Arab Emirates, followed by the United Kingdom, where he travelled to at least 21 times.

He also made at least six visits to Seborga, an unrecognised and self-proclaimed principality in Italy’s Liguria province, of which he claimed to be an ambassador.

The travel details have emerged in the analysis of passports seized from his rented bungalow during a raid by the STF Tuesday evening. The STF later arrested him, and a local court Wednesday sent him in judicial custody.

Jain had connections with Chandraswami, a controversial self-proclaimed ‘godman’ known for his proximity to former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.

Jain has allegedly confessed that Chandraswami referred him to Adnan Khaggosi, a Saudi Arabia-based arms dealer, and Adnan Rhabhi, a Saudi Arabian resident, as well as Ahsan Ali Syed, currently a Turkish citizen of Indian origin.

With Ali Syed’s help, Jain incorporated several shell companies under names like ‘State Trading Corporation’, ‘East India Company UK’, and ‘UAE Island General Trading Company LLC’ in the United Kingdom, ‘Indira Overseas Ltd’ in Mauritius and ‘Cameron Ispat SARL’ in Cameron and used bank accounts in these firms’ names to recoup money earned in brokerage business.

An analysis of his foreign travels by the STF allegedly revealed that he made most of these trips between 2007 and 2009. He made 19 foreign trips in 2007, 20 in 2008 and 17 in 2009. ThePrint earlier reported that during this period, Jain was allegedly working with the connections of Ali Syed and Khashoggi.

A Uttar Pradesh STF spokesperson said Thursday a probe is currently underway to determine the extent of his hawala deals, given his connection with Ali Syed, who was convicted by a Swiss court in a fraud case involving 20 million British Pound.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)