India News | Jharkhand Contractor Gets 3-year Rigorous Imprisonment for Money Laundering

New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) A special PMLA court in Ranchi has convicted a Jharkhand contractor on money laundering charges in a case of cheating the state exchequer while undertaking a road construction work, the Enforcement Directorate said Tuesday.

Vijay Kumar Tiwari, director of Kalawati Construction Pvt Ltd, has been sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by the court that passed its order on June 26, the ED said in a statement.

Also Read | Congress Hits Back at PM Narendra Modi, Says People Told His Government in Lok Sabha Polls 'Tumse Na Ho Payega' (Watch Video).

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him and ordered confiscation of more than Rs 20 lakh funds that were earlier attached by the central probe agency calling them the "proceeds of crime".

The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR which filed a charge sheet against the accused and the company. The ED had filed its own charge sheet against them in March, 2018.

Also Read | Who Is Religious Preacher Vishwa Hari Bhole Baba Whose 'Satsang' in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras Ended in Tragedy?.

The ED said its probe found that Kalawati Constructions, Garhwa was awarded a contract for execution of the 'special repair' of Balumath-Harhargunj-Panki Road at a contractual value of Rs 1.32 crore.

"The company and its director (Tiwari) submitted 13 bitumen invoices, out of which 11 invoices covering 224.25 MT bitumen worth Rs 55.41 lakh were found to be fake.

"This caused wrongful gain to him (Tiwari) and corresponding loss to the state exchequer of Jharkhand," it said.

No bitumen was procured or supplied against those 11 fake bitumen invoices, the ED found.

The agency said Tiwari had deposited Rs 35.41 lakh to the concerned department as per the order of Jharkhand High Court, at the time of his bail.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)