Man convicted in money laundering case; second PMLA verdict

A special PMLA court here today convicted a man on money laundering charges related to illegal possession of narcotic drugs.
This is the second conviction in the country under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that came into force about 12 years ago in 2005.
Officials said the special court here will pronounce the quantum of sentence against the accused Alauddin tomorrow and he has been convicted under PMLA.
A maximum of seven years of imprisonment is allowed under PMLA laws along with a hefty fine.
The case pertains to 2011 when the Enforcement Directorate registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), ED parlance for a police FIR, to probe money laundering charges against Alauddin who was first booked under anti-narcotics laws by the Narcotics Control Bureau here.

He was charged by the NCB for "illegal possession of narcotic drugs", they said.

The central probe agency took up the case to probe the proceeds of crime of money laundering.
The ED had last year filed a charge sheet in this case before the said court and had also attached Alauddin'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.