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NEW DELHI: In more troubles for fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said that it has registered one more case against him & his firm Gitanjali Gems in the Rs 22.06 crore bank fraud.
The agency has booked Gitanjali Gems Limited, its director Choksi, Surajmal Lallu Bhai and Company, valuers Narendra Jhaveri, Pradip C Shah, Shrenik R Shah and unknown public servants/unknown others on complaint from IFCI Limited for causing an alleged loss of Rs. 22.06 crore, a CBI spokesperson said here.
The official said that the agency carried out searches at eight premises of the accused valuers in Mumbai and Kolkata which led to recovery of incriminating documents.
It was alleged that between 2014 and 2018, IFCI Ltd relying on the representation, assurances and undertaking of Gitanjali Gems as well as its director Choksi and the value of the pledged jewels on the basis of valuation conducted by valuers, had disbursed the entire loan amount of Rs 25 crore on the basis of security cover of two times, pledge of shares, pledge of gold, diamond and gold CS studded jewellery, the official said.
There were also allegations that the accused had started defaulting on the repayment of loan instalments. In order to recover the defaulted amount of the instalments, IFCI Ltd invoked the pledge and the fresh valuation obtained by IFCI dropped the valuation of the pledged jewels by 90 per cent, the CBI said.
“It was also alleged that Choksi colluded with the valuers and got the valuation of the pledged jewels done with exorbitant and inflated value. The diamonds were allegedly of low quality and not real gemstones,” the official said.
Choksi is wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Rs 13,500 Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case along with diamantaire Nirav Modi.
Choksi is currently residing in Antigua. He had fled India before the PNB fraud case came to the fore.
