MADURAI: The Special Court for CBI cases in Madurai, on Friday, sentenced a man to three years rigorous imprisonment for conspiring with two others and cheating the union government to the tune of Rs 3.48 crore by fraudulently availing duty concession for import of textile raw materials in the year 2002.
The convict was identified as CP Ramakrishnan alias Kutty, partner in an Import-Export firm in Coimbatore. The other two accused include A Srinivasan, then Superintendent of Central Excise, Tiruchy and Suresh Kumar Jain, who ran a private company in Mumbai. While the charges against Srinivasan stood abated following his death in 2019, the case against Jain is still pending before the court along with a non-bailable warrant against him.
According to the prosecution, in 2002, the above three persons entered into a criminal conspiracy, based on which Jain imported textile raw materials worth Rs 3.54 crore through two advance licenses, and availed a total duty exemption of Rs 3.48 crore (Rs 1.79 crore and Rs 1.68 crore under each license), under the DEEC scheme, which is an export promotion scheme that permits manufacturers or exporters to import goods required for export production duty free. In order to fulfil the export obligation under the scheme, Jain and Ramakrishnan exported wrinkled and soiled cloth bits and pieces, that do not have any commercial value, under the guise of Ladies long coat. Srinivasan had abused his official position and gave false examination reports as if genuine goods were being exported, though the place involved was beyond his jurisdiction.
The conspiracy came to light when three of their containers, that awaited shipment at Cochin port, were inspected based on an alert from the Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB), Customs, Mumbai.
On Friday, II Additional District Judge (CBI Cases), Madurai, S Shunmugavel found Ramakrishnan guilty of cheating and criminal conspiracy and sentenced him to three years RI along with a fine of Rs 60,000.