The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed three fresh first information reports against absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi based on a complaint from the Punjab National Bank, bringing to the fore the additional Rs 6,746 crore loss incurred by it and other consortium banks, PTI reported.
Choksi is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate in India in connection with the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case. Another accused person in the case, Nirav Modi, is currently in jail in the United Kingdom.
Choksi fled to Antigua and Barbuda in 2017. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case against him in 2018.
The additional charges were filed by the bank on March 21, reporting the losses caused by Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Nakshatra Brands Ltd and Gili India Ltd.
Choksi’s counsel Vijay Aggarwal described the new first information reports as a “witch hunt”.
He added, “When one FIR has been lodged and a charge sheet has been filed for the total loss to the banks, how can for every small transaction there be a separate FIR now? With that logic, if they claim to be a total Rs 13,000 crore loss they should lodge one FIR each for every single rupee.”
Aggarwal also said that there is a vigilance manual circular that the consortium can lodge only one first information report.
The first case against Choksi pertains to alleged fraud of Rs 5,564.54 crore between 2010 and 2018, his firm Gitanjali Gems Ltd and its senior executives, on a consortium of 28 banks led by ICICI, PTI reported. The Punjab National Bank has alleged that the diamantaire and his firms defrauded the consortium of banks worth Rs 5564.54 crore.
The bank, in its complaint, which is now a part of the first information report, has alleged that Choksi and the other accused “were involved in fudging of accounts, siphoning off funds and utilising the sanctioned credit limits not for genuine trade transactions”.
The second case is about cheating a consortium of nine banks led by Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 807 crore by Choksi, his firm Nakshatra Brands Ltd and others.
The third first information report pertains to alleged fraud worth Rs 375 crore committed by Choksi and Gili India Ltd in the PNB during the same period.
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