Paazee Forex Scam: The Court also slapped a fine amounting to Rs 171.74 crore on them. (Representational)
A court in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore on Friday sentenced two directors of Paazee Marketing Company to 27 years of imprisonment and slapped a fine amounting to Rs 171.74 crore on them in a case related to cheating public depositors to the tune of Rs 870.1 crore.
The CBI in the press statement said that the Court sentenced K Mohanraj and Kamalavalli both directors of private firms to undergo twenty-seven years of rigorous imprisonment (consecutively for all sections) with a fine of Rs 42.76 crore each and imposed a fine of Rs 28.74 crore each on three private firms...Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited, Paazee Trading Inc. and Paazee Marketing Company.
The agency said the case was one of the rarest convictions related to cheating the public depositors to the tune of Rs 870.10 crore (approx.). The total fine imposed amounts to Rs.171.74 crore.
CBI registered a case on June 15, 2011, on the orders of the High Court of Madras against the accused.
It was alleged that Paazee Marketing Company, Tiruppur run by K Mohanraj, Director and others including other private companies floated various schemes between July 2008 and September 2009 and cheated various depositors to the tune of Rs 870.10 crore (approx.) by collecting deposits from them on the false promise of high returns, the statement said.
It was further alleged that the accused including directors of the companies through the website www.paazeemarketing.com fraudulently mobilized deposits and investments dishonestly promising that the same made by the public would be used in the Forex Trading business.
The accused further promised that a huge dividend/interest would be paid in a very short duration on the deposits so collected.
The accused issued post-dated cheques drawn from various banks where the accused opened accounts in the names of Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited, Paazee Trading Inc. and Paazee Marketing Company.
After a thorough investigation, a charge sheet was filed on October 7, 2011, against the accused.
The Trial Court found two accused and three companies guilty and convicted them.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)