Jaya aide fined Rs 2.3 crore for FERA violations

Chennai: AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa's aide Sasikala and her relative V Bhaskaran have been found guilty by a court of FERA violations and were fined Rs 5.7 crore in two different cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While Sasikala was fined Rs 2.3 crore, Bhaskaran was slapped with a fine of Rs 3.4 crore.
An official press release said the cases pertained to payments made to Intersputnik, Moscow, and Singapore Telecom, Singapore, as transponder charges by the now-defunct J Jay TV Private Limited to the tune of 10,45,000 Singapore dollars in 1996.
Sasikala and Bhaskaran were the directors of the company.
The ED had registered cases against the company and its directors in 1996-97 for violating FERA provisions but the directors had filed a series of writ petitions in the Madras High Court and obtained stay on the adjudication proceedings.
The stay was vacated in June 2005 but the directors filed writ petitions against the vacation of the stay, which were dismissed in September, 2007.
The cases were recently disposed of by the Adjudicating Authority which also imposed a penalty of Rs 4.5 crore on the company, besides fines on Sasikala and Bhaskaran, the release added.
J Jay TV private limited and its directors had acquired foreign exchange abroad without RBI permission in violation of FERA to the tune of 10,45,00 Singapore dollars and used the money for paying the transponder and uplinking charges to the Moscow and Singapore firms, the release said.
sifynews.com; Thursday, 27 March , 2008, 00:57