Former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and fined Rs five lakh on Monday by a special court in Ranchi, PTI reported. This is the first conviction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after it came into force 12 years ago.
“Rai has been pronounced guilty under section 3, read with section 4, of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act...the court found him guilty to launder the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 3,72,54,016,” the Enforcement Directorate said.
Rai had held the tourism, urban development, and forest and environment portfolios under chief ministers Arjun Munda, Madhu Koda and Shibu Soren between 2005 and 2008. The case pertains to money laundering charges involving Koda. An FIR had been filed against Koda, Rai and other cabinet members by the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau in 2008.
In September 2009, the ED took up the investigation under PMLA. The Anti-Corruption Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation had also filed a chargesheet against Rai for disproportionate assets. The ED had then claimed Rai had purchased properties in the names of his wife, relatives and his companies, reported The Indian Express. It had filed a chargesheet against Rai in 2011.
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