What Are The CBI, ED Cases Against Mehul Choksi?
Recently, on May 30, Mehul Choksi was caught by the police in Dominica. Actually, Choksi had fled from Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday. After which the operation to find him was going on. Then on Wednesday, he reached Dominica by boat, but the police took him from there. However, Mehul Choksi’s lawyer says that he was forcibly taken from Antigua to Dominica on a ship. But the police commissioner there, Atlee Rodney dismissed his claim. However, the High Court of Dominica has not allowed Choksi to be taken away. A photo of Vigilance from Dominica is going viral, in which swelling in his eye and scratch marks are visible on his hand.
Why are we talking about Mehul Choksi?
One of the biggest bank scams in the country to date, in the Punjab National Bank forgery case, the two names that have emerged are Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Mehul Choksi is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi. In this case, he is also missing with Modi, who is being searched, and raids are being conducted at all the places related to him. Choksi is accused of an 11,400 crore scam in Punjab National Bank, he is the managing director of Gitanjali Gems. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also filed a case against them due to the writing of 2 FIRs by Punjab National Bank. The bank also said that they have misused the bank guarantee or Letter of Undertaking (LoU).
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Mehul’s Business Carrier till the present date
Mehul Choksi started his business with his father in 1960. 26 years later, in 1986, Choksi launched Gitanjali Gems, which within a short span of time became one of the largest exporters of rough and polished diamonds and gems in the country. In the early 90s, Modi understood the potential of retail in the jewelry business, and Geetanjali launched his jewelry brand “Gili” in 1994.
Mehul Choksi and Punjab National Bank Scam
The ED says that both Modi and Choksi were summoned under the Money Laundering Act and asked to return the money within a week. In case both of them are not in the country, a notice has been sent to their firm. ED has so far collected diamonds, jewelry, and gold worth about 5100 crores by raiding many showrooms, workshops, offices, and houses of Modi and Choksi. BEFORE LEAVING THE COUNTRY, the ED has said that both Modi and Choksi had asked their company directors and family members to keep the gems and jewelry hidden as they feared that investigative agencies would raid these places to recover their money.
ED has so far raided 45 places in 11 cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Guwahati. After the raids on Mehul Choksi’s company and house, there were many allegations of those scams, due to which he left the country immediately. And ran away for a long time.
In April last year, RBI had waived the loan of Mehul Choksi. Its report was sought by the RBI by RTI, in response to which the RBI said that the loan of Rs 68,607 crore was waived till 30 September 2019. Many businessmen are involved in this, in which the name of Mehul Choksi is on the top, who had a debt of Rs 5,492 crore.
Recently Mehul Choksi said before the Dominican High Court that he should be allowed to go back to Antigua where an extradition proceeding is underway. He also claimed that he had invited Indian agencies probing the PNB scam to question him.
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