Over 16 years after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) imposed a penalty of ₹28 crore on T.T.V. Dhinakaran, a nephew of AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala and former MP, the Madras High Court on Friday confirmed the order, while dismissing an appeal moved by the accused.
The order passed by the First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan pertains to a two-decade-old Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) violation case initiated against Mr. Dhinakaran.
The charge against him was that he had acquired $62,61,313 from persons other than authorised foreign exchange dealers, and deposited the amount in the current account of Dipper Investments Ltd, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, thereby lending the foreign exchange to a person who was not an authorised dealer.
Originally, the ED imposed a penalty of ₹31 crore for the violations, upon which Mr. Dhinakaran moved an appeal in the FERA Board. The Board, through an order dated May 5, 2000, reduced the penalty to ₹28 crore and directed the appellant to pay the penalty within 45 days.
