Leather exporter convicted for unpaid FERA penalty after foreign buyers defaulted
The Enforcement Directorate fined a Kolkata leather-goods exporter Rs 1,50,000 in 1997 for non-realisation of export proceeds after foreign buyers refused to pay. For failing to pay that penalty he was prosecuted under Section 57 of FERA and convicted. The Calcutta High Court on 22 May 2024 upheld the conviction but replaced six months imprisonment with a Rs 3 lakh fine.
This page records what the cited court, tribunal and government records say happened. Findings belong to the court or authority that made them; this register adds none of its own. Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them.
How we verify →Conviction stands as modified: only a Rs 3,00,000 fine to be paid within three months from the judgment date, instead of imprisonment.
What happened
The High Court recorded that the petitioner exported leather jackets to buyers in Berlin and New York by air in September and December 1993, the buyers refused payment after taking delivery, and the petitioner applied to the RBI for extension of time to realise the proceeds.
The High Court recorded that the Deputy/Assistant Director of Enforcement Directorate Kolkata issued a 1996 show-cause notice for contravention of Sections 18(2) and 18(3) of FERA and imposed a Rs 1,50,000 penalty on 16.05.1997 with 45 days to pay, which was not paid and for which no stay was granted.
The High Court recorded that a complaint under Section 57 of FERA was filed on 24.12.2001 for failure to pay the adjudicated penalty, and the Metropolitan Magistrate convicted the petitioner on 30.08.2012 to six months imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine, affirmed by the Additional Sessions Judge on 09.07.2013.
The High Court held that the FERA repeal did not give the petitioner the benefit of FEMA leniency because Sections 49(3) and 49(4) of FEMA preserved offences committed under FERA, and rejected the plea for civil-only treatment.
The High Court held that Section 57 is disjunctive and, considering the petitioner's age of 75 years and the lapse of time since 1996, upheld the conviction but modified the sentence to a Rs 3 lakh fine payable within three months.
What the record says
“The conviction of the petitioner is upheld. However the sentence is modified to the extent of payment of fine of Rs.3 lakhs within three months from the date.”
Calcutta High Court, C.R.R. 2901 of 2013, judgment dated 22.05.2024, para 25 — read the full text
A peaceful economic act
Exporting jackets and failing to receive payment from foreign buyers involved no victim, fraud, or force; punishment was for a foreign-exchange paperwork and penalty-default offence, a pure capital-control restriction.
What we could not confirm
Exact day-level incident date for the 1993 exports is not printed (only months), so incident_date is null. Searched 2025 FEMA/hawala/COFEPOSA Calcutta results; the returns were off-topic or fraud-linked, so this May 2024 FERA export-proceeds conviction is the most recent qualifying capital case found.