New Delhi: The CBI has registered a fresh case against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi — and his company Gitanjali Gems — for allegedly defrauding Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) of Rs 22 crore in four years, between 2014 and 2018.
IFCI is a public-sector non-banking finance company (NBFC).
Choksi is also an accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank case of alleged fraud, in which his nephew Nirav Modi and some bank employees are also accused. He has denied all charges.
Now a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, Choksi departed India for the Caribbean island nation prior to news of the alleged scam breaking.
According to the FIR registered by the CBI in the IFCI case, a copy of which is with ThePrint, he allegedly pledged gemstones that were “not real” while seeking a Rs 25 crore loan. The FIR says Choksi “colluded with the valuers and got the valuation of the pledged jewels done with exorbitant and inflated value”.
“The diamonds are of low quality lab prepared chemical vapour diamonds and other inferior colour stones and not real gemstones,” claims the FIR filed against Choksi, his retail jewellery brand Gitanjali, and four other unknown persons.
‘Value of jewels 98% less’
In a written complaint filed in November 2020, an IFCI employee alleged that Gitanjali Gems, Mehul Choksi and the other accused “were party to a criminal conspiracy to cheat” IFCI.
According to the complaint, Gitanjali Gems had in March 2016 approached IFCI for a loan of Rs 25 crore, based on security pledged against valuations of jewels comprising gold, diamond and gold-studded jewellery.
Acting on the “representation and assurance” of Mehul Choksi and the valuers, IFCI claimed it disbursed the loan amount. However, following defaults in repaying the loan instalments, IFCI, in order to realise the security, conducted a fresh valuation, which, in 2018, revealed the value of the jewels to be 98 per cent less than originally claimed, the complaint says.
The FIR says IFCI then tried to raise the loaned amount against 20,60,054 shares also pledged by Choksi, but could sell only 6,48,822 shares (worth Rs 4.07 crore), as Choksi’s client ID had been suspended by the Mumbai-based National Securities Depository Ltd.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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