7-year jail for Ko Si Mani’s son in PMLA case

Mani Anbalagan was arrested in August 2017 by the sleuths from enforcement directorate in connection with a money laundering case they had registered in March, 2017.

The case is in connection with outward remittance of foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 78 crore by eight current account holders by submitting forged bills of entry to the Indian Bank branch at Thousand Lights. All the accounts were opened after receiving an application from Anbazhagan, according to the investigators.

ED investigators found that Rs 78 crore worth foreign exchanges were remitted by eight shell entities upon production of forged bills without any physical imports. The ED officials said that Anbazhagan acted as single point contact to carry out the fraudulent money laundering activity.

The ED further noted that the identity proof for the ‘know your customer’ (KYC) submitted to the bank was fictitious. A total of Rs 97.5 crore was deposited in the bank through these companies after which foreign exchange remittance to the extent of US $ 11,267,521 equalling Rs 78 crore was fraudulently made on the basis of forged import documents without making actual import. The ED had then attached the balance amount lying in the bank accounts.

This is the first conviction in the case. The sentence was pronounced in the court of an additional special judge – CBI court on Wednesday.