NEW DELHI: A special court in Chennai has convicted a man under the anti-money laundering law and sentenced him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment in a case linked to sending fraudulent overseas remittances, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday.
The court ordered K Liakath Ali to also pay a fine of Rs 1 crore or to undergo one more year of imprisonment. It also directed, the ED said in a statement, "confiscation" of Rs 1,75,49,253 worth fixed deposit available with ED, which was provisionally attached and confirmed by the adjudicating authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED had arrested Ali in April 2017 after filing a case against him and others under the PMLA, taking cognisance of a Chennai Police central crime branch FIR.
The convict, the statement said, is a part of a "gang of people operating with complete anonymity while sending the proceeds of crime (illegal funds) under the guise of permissible merchandise imports, without making corresponding imports into the domestic tariff area (DTA), by using forged import documents as genuine".
It said Ali made a remittance of USD 2,786,300, equivalent to over Rs 18.66 crore (Rs 18,66,54,241) through Indian Bank, Thousand Lights Branch, Chennai, and opened a current account in the name of Galaxy Impex by submitting "forged" identity documents in the assumed name of 'Waseem Liakath Ali' without disclosing the beneficial owner either within the country or outside the country and end-use in the recipient nation.
The agency filed a chargesheet against him in June 2017, and charges were framed against him in the court in December 2019, the statement said. Investigation against six other entities in this case is continuing, it said.