MUMBAI: Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1.83 crore on Pune-based businessman Avinash Bhosale for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act or FEMA in a case registered in 2007.
ED officials said they had probed charges of customs evasion against him. The case was registered in May 2007 against Bhosale and the FEMA violation was pegged at $4,000,00. “The penalty of Rs 1.83 crore was imposed on him by the ED on January 9 (2015) in a case of evading customs duty. The penalty should be paid by the evader within 45 days,” said an official from ED, Mumbai here the other day.
Bhosale was detained and arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in May 2007, after officials intercepted him and found some undeclared goods and cash. During investigation, ED officials said, Bhosale told the agency that he had advanced a loan of $1,70,000 to a man identified as Ali Asgar.
Bhosale was on his way back from London and the ED officials claimed that he told them that during a stopover in Dubai, Ali gave him $10,000 and deposited $1,48,954 towards his credit card to clear theloan amount.
Amit Bhosale, Executive Director, ABIL, said: “We are glad that the case pending since 2007 is closed. Unnecessarily some absurd figures were discussed earlier, whereas the true figure has come out today, which is much much less than the figures discussed.”