Patna, March 2: The enforcement directorate has imposed a penalty of Rs 13.62 lakh each on Legislative Council deputy chairman Saleem Perwez and jailed former RJD MP Mohammed Shahabuddin for violation of provisions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

At present, Shahabuddin is serving life term in connection with a kidnapping-cum-murder case in the Siwan divisional jail. On the other hand, Perwez, a JDU MLC, is holding the post of deputy chairman of the Council.

Sources said the penalty had been imposed on the two leaders under sections 3(a) and 4 of the FEMA for unauthorised dealing in foreign exchange and possessing foreign currency. "Both of them were found guilty during adjudication of a case of 2005," a senior enforcement directorate official said on Monday.

The official on condition of anonymity said the directives had also been issued to confiscate $7,600, 10,540 dirhams and 800 Saudi riyals worth Rs 4.54 lakh at that time, which were recovered from Shahabuddin's ancestral house during a raid at Pratappur village in Siwan district in April 2005.

A case was earlier lodged against the then Siwan MP Shahabuddin with Hussainganj police station at the behest of then district magistrate of Siwan C.K. Anil and superintendent of police Ratn Sanjay. Besides foreign currencies, the police had also seized illegal arms and ammunition and skin of wild animals from his house.

A police officer, who was also part of the raiding team, revealed that the raid was conducted on Shahabuddin's house on April 23, 2005. The then DM and the SP had informed the officials of the customs department about the seizure of the foreign currencies and requested the latter to probe the matter.

During interrogation, Shahabuddin had told the police that the foreign currencies were given to him by his NRI friend Saleem Perwez. Questioned, Parwez then told the interrogators that he had handed over the currencies of different countries to Shahabuddin.

The case was subsequently handed over to the ED by the customs department. The ED immediately summoned Perwez, who, in his statement, said he had donated the money to Shahabuddin's Islamia Trust of which he (Perwez) was also a member of the working committee.

The trust has been assigned to look after a medical college and other educational institutions in Siwan. Perwez had introduced himself as an NRI living in Saudi Arabia. He, however, originally hails from Saran district. Sources said that till 2005, both Shahabuddin and Perwez happened to be good friends.

Perwez, however, retracted from his earlier statement and told the ED officials that Shahabuddin had visited Saudi Arabia in August 2003 and returned with foreign currencies, which had received as "zakat" (donation). "During probe, both Shahabuddin and Perwez were found to be guilty under relevant sections of the FEMA," a senior ED official told The Telegraph.

Shahabuddin recently hit the headlines after an alleged contract killer accused the former of giving him "supari" for the murder of a BJP worker Srikant Bharatiya at Siwan last year. The "supari" killer, identified as Shailendra, admitted that he had been offered Rs 12 lakh for the crime.