A special court in Ahmedabad dealing with money laundering cases has sentenced former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pradeep Sharma to five years of rigorous imprisonment. The verdict, delivered on Saturday, relates to a long-pending case where Sharma was accused of illegally allocating land at throwaway prices during his tenure as the Kutch district collector.
The Core of the Corruption Case
The case, initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) back in 2012, revolves around Sharma's actions between May 2003 and June 2006. During this period, he served as the Kutch district collector and also chaired the District Land Pricing Committee (DLPC).
The central allegation is that Sharma allotted multiple parcels of land at rates between Rs 15 and Rs 18 per square metre. This was drastically lower than the fixed government rate of Rs 78 per square metre. This undervaluation allegedly caused a financial loss of approximately Rs 1.20 crore to the state exchequer.
Channeling Illegal Gains Through Family
The prosecution successfully argued that Sharma channeled the illegal benefits derived from this scam through his wife, Shyamal Sharma. According to the ED's case, Shyamal Sharma was made a 30% partner in a firm linked to the corporate group that received the land, without making any initial capital investment.
Substantial amounts were traced to her. An amount of Rs 22 lakh was found in her Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) bank account, and another Rs 7.50 lakh was received as a "goodwill payment." The ED contended these were illicit gratifications for the undue favours extended to the corporate entity.
Further, an initial investment of just Rs 1 lakh made in her name in January 2008 was used to channel a much larger sum of Rs 28,17,407 as profit distribution. Special prosecutor for the ED, Sudhir Gupta, stated that multiple witnesses confirmed the illegal gains reached Shyamal in the United States.
Court's Stern Stance and Consecutive Sentence
Special PMLA judge K M Sojitra took a firm stance while pronouncing the sentence. The judge noted that Sharma, as a collector, had indulged in corrupt practices for which he was already convicted in the scheduled offence (corruption case) in April this year, receiving a five-year sentence.
Judge Sojitra explicitly denied any leniency, refusing to allow the new sentence to run concurrently with the previous one. "The offence of money laundering is a serious one, and no leniency can be shown to the accused by passing an order that the sentence shall run concurrently along with the previous conviction," the judge observed. This means Sharma's new five-year term will begin only after he completes his earlier sentence for corruption.
In addition to the prison term, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Sharma. It also ordered the confiscation of all his properties that had been attached by the investigating agency during the probe.
The ED had booked Sharma under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on three First Information Reports (FIRs) previously registered by the Gujarat CID (crime) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The case highlights the continued legal pursuit of corruption charges and the subsequent money laundering activities, even years after the initial offences.
