Karnataka govt official convicted in money laundering case

Bengaluru: A special PMLA court in Bengaluru has convicted a Karnataka government employee to three years of rigorous imprisonment, more than 12 years after he was booked in a money laundering case linked to the possession of disproportionate assets.

In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said B C Shanthakumar, assistant manager in the Karnataka State Forest Industries Corporation Ltd. (KSFIC), was “held guilty” by the trial court.

Shanthakumar was booked by the ED in March 2010, under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the federal probe agency took cognisance of a 2009 Karnataka Lokayukta Police FIR against him for accumulation of “disproportionate assets” to the tune of Rs 84,42,067, which was found to be 122.79 percent more than his known sources of income, the agency said.

“Shanthakumar was actively and knowingly involved in the processes connected with proceeds of crime,” the ED said.

The agency said it had attached assets worth more than Rs 60 lakh of the government official in March 2014  and filed a charge sheet a year later before the Bengaluru court.