The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered yet another case against Gitanjali Gems Limited, its fugitive director Mehul Choksi and others for allegedly cheating the IFCI Limited of ₹22.06 crore.
Among those named as accused in the case are Surajmal Lallu Bhai & Co., Narendra Jhaveri, Pradip C. Shah, Shrenik R. Shah and others.
In its complaint, the IFCI Limited alleged that during 2014-18, it had disbursed the entire loan amount of about ₹25 crore to Gitanjali Gems, based on the representations and assurances given by its functionaries, including Mr. Choksi, on the basis of pledged shares, gold, diamonds and jewellery.
The accused soon started committing defaults in the repayment of loan instalments. In order to recover the defaulted amount, IFCI Limited invoked the pledge and got a fresh valuation of the pledged jewels done. Their valuations dropped by 90% from the declared figures, revealing that they had been pledged by projecting a highly inflated value. “The diamonds were allegedly of low quality and not real gemstones,” said the agency.
Based on the complaint, the agency registered a case and conducted searches on the premises of the accused valuers in Mumbai and Kolkata.
Mr. Choksi, who is wanted in connection with the ₹13,578 crore Punjab National Bank fraud cases along with his nephew Nirav Modi, is facing extradition proceedings in Antigua and Barbuda. Days before the CBI registered the first case against him, he and his family members had fled the country in January 2018. The agency later found that he had taken the Antiguan citizenship.
Based on the CBI cases, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and attached assets worth thousands of crores in India and overseas.
