Romesh Sharma convicted

NEW DELHI: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's alleged front man in Delhi, Romesh Sharma, has been convicted by a city court for illegal forex deals involving $3.45 lakh.
Sharma, lodged in Tihar, was recently in news when a jail inmate alleged that he was using mobile phones inside the jail along with another undertrial in a forex violation case.
The conviction in FERA case is perhaps the first against the controversial Dawood's frontman who is also facing trial in other cases, including extortion.He was also allegedly involved in case of illegal possession of a helicopter, owned by a top corporate honcho, recovered from in his farm house in Chattarpur in south Delhi.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Kamini Lau while convicting Sharma under section 56 of FERA said: "Unless the accused rebuts the presumption of the offence being strict and absolute, he is deemed to have committed the offence...the complaint and the documents accompanied manifestly make out the offence under the provisions of Section 18 (2) of FERA for which the accused Romesh Sharma is held guilty for offence under section 56 of FERA and I convict him accordingly."
According to the complaint filed by Enforcement Directorate Sharma, along with his business partner Ajay Nayyar - declared a proclaimed offender - shipped goods valued $ 3.45 lakh in 1997 and allegedly refrained from securing the export value of the goods.
The complaint said the Sharma and Nayyar's firm - Next One - had no permission of the Reserve Bank of India for allegedly delaying the collection of the value for the exported goods beyond the permitted limits.
Counsel for FERA, Navin Kumar Matta, pleaded before ACMM Lau that Sharma and his partner failed to respond to a notice issued by the ED seeking replies within 15 days whether they had obtained any permission from RBI for not realising the said export proceeds of $3.45 lakh with the stipulated period.
An official of the RBI, J D Ahuja, testified in court that as per the record the firm had not applied for extension of realisation of export proceeds. Lau observed in her conviction order that when Sharma's counsel claimed that he has been in jail for the last two years and this may have prevented him for applying for the necessary permission from the RBI, the witness (Ahuja) stated "it is not necessary that the person should apply (for permission) personally and it can be applied by anyone (on his behalf)."