FINDING NiMo
Fresh CBI FIR against Choksi and PNB officials
Neeraj Chauhan & Vijay V Singh TNN
New Delhi/Mumbai: The CBI has registered a fresh case against jeweller Mehul Choksi, gem designer Nirav Modi’s partner, and two PNB officials — Gokulnath Shetty and Manoj Kharat — along with 10 directors of Choksi’s firms and unknown government officials.
The agency alleged on Friday that 143 Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and 224 Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) were issued to overseas branches of Indian banks in favour of Nirav and his suppliers, thereby causing a swindle of $755 million (Rs 4,887 crore).
Sources said LoUs were issued to SBI’s Mauritius and Frankfurt branches, Bank of India’s Antwerp branch, Canara Bank’s Bahrain branch and Axis Bank’s Hong Kong branch. CBI sources said 143 LoUs were issued by PNB officials in 2017-18 for three companies run by Choksi — Gitanjali Gems, Nakshatra and Gili India Ltd — but most of these letters were rolled over from previously issued ones since 2011.
Meanwhile, on Friday, ED officials claimed to have recovered diamonds and gold jewellery worth around Rs 550 crore during raids across 35 locations in connection with the investigation. The raids will continue on Saturday.
However, they have not made any arrests to date. On Thursday, the ED had seized jewellery worth Rs 5,100 crore from different premises belonging to Modi in Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Jaipur and Hyderabad. Officials have decided to shift the seized jewellery to a government vault and will approach valuation experts to ascertain its worth. ED officials said the value of the seizures, based on import stock receipts and market price, could be more than Rs 5,300 crore.
Meanwhile, the ED has started summoning senior officials of PNB for questioning to examine their role in the fraud. ED officials said it was difficult to believe the entire scam was orchestrated by two officials.
A protest on Friday by Congress’s youth wing in New Delhi against the swindle pulled off by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi & associates
Fresh CBI FIR against Choksi and PNB officials
Neeraj Chauhan & Vijay V Singh TNN
New Delhi/Mumbai: The CBI has registered a fresh case against jeweller Mehul Choksi, gem designer Nirav Modi’s partner, and two PNB officials — Gokulnath Shetty and Manoj Kharat — along with 10 directors of Choksi’s firms and unknown government officials.
The agency alleged on Friday that 143 Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and 224 Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) were issued to overseas branches of Indian banks in favour of Nirav and his suppliers, thereby causing a swindle of $755 million (Rs 4,887 crore).
Sources said LoUs were issued to SBI’s Mauritius and Frankfurt branches, Bank of India’s Antwerp branch, Canara Bank’s Bahrain branch and Axis Bank’s Hong Kong branch. CBI sources said 143 LoUs were issued by PNB officials in 2017-18 for three companies run by Choksi — Gitanjali Gems, Nakshatra and Gili India Ltd — but most of these letters were rolled over from previously issued ones since 2011.
Meanwhile, on Friday, ED officials claimed to have recovered diamonds and gold jewellery worth around Rs 550 crore during raids across 35 locations in connection with the investigation. The raids will continue on Saturday.
However, they have not made any arrests to date. On Thursday, the ED had seized jewellery worth Rs 5,100 crore from different premises belonging to Modi in Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Jaipur and Hyderabad. Officials have decided to shift the seized jewellery to a government vault and will approach valuation experts to ascertain its worth. ED officials said the value of the seizures, based on import stock receipts and market price, could be more than Rs 5,300 crore.
Meanwhile, the ED has started summoning senior officials of PNB for questioning to examine their role in the fraud. ED officials said it was difficult to believe the entire scam was orchestrated by two officials.
A protest on Friday by Congress’s youth wing in New Delhi against the swindle pulled off by billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi & associates
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