Indian authorities have convicted Thiru Mohammed Riyaz for international trade-based money laundering under the country’s AML/CFT law. Riyaz has been sentenced to 39 months in jail. He will also have to pay a fine of ₹600,000 ($7838).
The authorities arrested Riyaz in 2019 for making foreign outward remittances of $2.18 million. He made these transactions under two different identities through a Chennai-based bank in 2015. The money involved in the transactions was obtained through fraud involving impersonation and forged documents purporting that the money was being transferred as payment for permissible merchandise imports, when no such imports were made in reality.
Riyaz is a member of a larger network of criminals involved in transferring criminal proceeds under the guise of permissible merchandise imports. Due to the cross-border implications of this case, the judiciary has denied bail to the Riyaz.
Source: Enforcement Directorate, India