By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday asked controversial godman Nemi Chand Jain alias Chandraswami to pay Rs.25 lakh to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part-payment of a penalty imposed on him for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in 13 cases.
The apex court vacation bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice Swatanter Kumar gave Chandraswami and his associate Vikram Singh a week’s time to deposit the penalty amount.
The judges said the amount offered to be deposited by Chandraswami was peanuts as compared to the total penalty of Rs.9 crore in 13 different cases.
The court asked Chandraswami’s counsel if he would deposit the entire penalty of Rs.9 crore. He said it would be difficult for them to deposit the entire amount in one go.
The part-payment of Rs.25 lakh that Chandraswami Wednesday offered to pay is related to four cases of FEMA violations. He sought more time for making payments in another three cases.
Chandraswami moved the apex court seeking extension of time for paying penalty imposed by the ED. An earlier extension granted to him ended in March.
Granting time to Chandraswami, the court said it would hold hearing on his application in the second week of July subject to his paying the penalties in seven cases.