LAW FOR ALL

FERA =the High Court has partly allowed FERA Appeal Nos.8 to 11 of 2008 that assailed the common order dated 28 th November, 2007 passed by the Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange, New Delhi and reduced the penalty imposed upon the appellants for contravention of Sections 14 and 8(1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 by 50%. The factual matrix in which the adjudication order came to be passed by the DeputyPage 2 Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Mumbai and the appellate order passed by the Tribunal for Foreign Exchange, New Delhi has been set out in the order passed by the Tribunal and the order passed by the High Court of Bombay mentioned earlier. Bountiful Ltd. was a paper company that held Swiss bank account which was in turn operated by a person named Mr. Shirish Shah, a Chartered Accountant, operating from London on the instructions of Mr. Rajesh Desai, appellant in SLP (C) No.15549 of 2008 who was none other than the son of Mr. Arun Desai, Managing Director of Telestar Travels Pvt. Ltd. appellant in SLP (C) No.15547 of 2008. The further case of the Directorate was that documentary evidence seized from the office of M/s Telestar and the residence premises of the Managing Director in the course of investigation conducted under Section 37 of FERA unerringly revealed that Bountiful Ltd. was entirely a holding of the appellant-Telestar Pvt. Ltd.Page 4 and entirely controlled in its operation and financial management by Mr. Arun N. Desai and his two sons Mr. Sujeet A. Desai and Mr. Rajesh A. Desai, appellants in these appeals. It was on the basis of the investigations conducted by the Directorate, the statements of the promoters of Telestar Pvt. Ltd. recorded during the course of such investigation and other material collected by the Directorate, a notice was issued by the Directorate calling upon them to show cause why the adjudication proceedings as contemplated under Section 51 of the FERA should not be filed against them for the contravention pointed out in the show cause notice. In the result, these appeals fail and are, hereby, dismissed with costs assessed at Rs.50,000/- in each appeal. Cost to be deposited within two months with the SCBA Lawyers’ Welfare Fund.