A CBI court sentenced the husband of Sasikala,a close associate of AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa,and three others to two years rigorous imprisonment for "cheating" the exchequer of over Rs one crore in the import of a foreign car by fabricating documents. Special Judge T Ravindran also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each on Sasikala's husband M Natarajan,director of Tamilarasi Publications and her nephew V Bhaskaran,a signatory to operate the current account of the publications. The judge also fined one Yogesh Balakrishnan,residing in London,a sum of Rs 40,000 and a city branch manager of Indian Bank Rs 20,000. They have been charged under IPC for criminal conspiracy,cheating and forgery and under the Prevention of Corruption Act awarded lesser sentences. All the sentences would run concurrently. According to CBI,Natarajan and Bhaskaran "fraudulently and dishonestly fabricated documents for the purpose of clearing a Lexus car,imported by Balakrishnan,to take advantage of the Residence provision by misdeclaring that the vehicle had been manufactured in 1993 instead of 1994". In the process,the customs department suffered a loss of over Rs 1.06 crore. The CBI submitted that the original sale invoice pertaining to the purchase of the car was replaced and substituted with a photo copy of a fabricated invoice. In pursuance of the conspiracy,the branch manager had misused her official position by illegal means,it was submitted. The manager had issued a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) to the effect that the imported car would be released by customs on the basis of the certificate,knowing full well that the current account of Tamilarasi Publications had not received any foreign remittance,a pre-condition for paying the customs duty under the FIRC. Yogesh Balakrishnan's father,also named as an accused,is still absconding. The car had arrived by ship at Chennai port on September 6,1994.
