A special court here today sentenced a man to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 2 lakh on money laundering charges related to illegal possession of narcotic drugs.
"This is the second case in India where conviction has been secured under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the first such case under NDPS (predicate offence). Further, this is the highest sentence awarded under PMLA till date," the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.
The PMLA came into force about 12 years ago in 2005.
The special CBI court, hearing cases of the ED too, had convicted Allauddin SK alias Helu yesterday, and today pronounced the sentence of 8 years RI and a fine of Rs 2 lakh against him.
While a maximum of seven years of imprisonment is allowed under PMLA laws, the court sentenced Allauddin to eight years as the predicate offence was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
Helu had earlier been held guilty under NDPS laws in 2014, the agency said.
The case pertains to 2011 when the ED registered an FIR to probe money laundering charges against Allauddin.
The central probe agency took up the case to probe the proceeds of crime of money laundering.
"NCB had seized 3.950-kg of opium from his possession and had also seized 25.450-kg of opium and 550-kg of poppy husk from his residence and he was booked under NDPS, 1985. Investigation done by NCB revealed he was a habitual offender and he had traded in opium on regular basis," it said.
The ED had last year filed a charge sheet in this case before the said court and had also attached Allauddin's assets (about 152 decimals of land) worth about Rs 30 lakh.
While the deed value of the said land was Rs 3 lakh, its market value is Rs 30 lakh, they said.
The first money laundering conviction in the country had only come in January this year when a Ranchi court convicted former Jharkhand Minister Hari Narayan Rai and sentenced him to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh.
The PMLA was enacted in 2002 and implemented from 2005 in order to check serious crimes of tax evasion and generation of black money.
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