Court convicts Rose Valley official for money laundering, awards him 7-year-old jail term

New Delhi: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata has convicted an official of Rose Valley group company and awarded him 7 years rigorous imprisonment on money laundering charges, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Saturday.

The central probe agency had registered an FIR against the firm, its chairman Gautam Kundu and others in 2014.

“The court has sentenced Arun Mukherjee to suffer rigorous imprisonment of seven years and to pay a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh in default rigorous imprisonment for another six months,” the ED said in a statement.

The investigation was initiated against Rose Valley Real Estates Construction Ltd, its Chairman Gautam Kundu along with other persons related to company.

It was alleged in the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that Rose Valley Real Estate Construction Limited and its Associate Companies repeatedly floated Secured Non – Convertible Debentures in the year 2001-2002, 2004-2005, 2005-2006 and in 2007-2008 and issued to more than 49 persons in each financial year and illegally raised the total sum of Rs. 12.82 Crores.

During the course of investigation conducted under PMLA it is revealed that the accused Company under the direction and control of accused persons had accumulated investments from 2585 persons, a total of around Rs 12 crores and acquired control over various securities as defined under section 11(C) of SEBI Act, 1992 read with section 24 and 27 of the said Act. The money so acquired were further laundered by investing the same in various movable properties.

Provisional Attachment order under PMLA was issued in respect of 14 fixed deposits having total value of Rs 12 crores. In this case two accused persons namely Gautam Kundu and Shri Amit Banerjee were arrested in 2015. Prosecution Complaints were filed in 2015.