CBI, ED to seize overseas properties of fugitive diamantaire Jatin Mehta
NEW DELHI: After successfully seizing foreign assets of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, Indian law enforcement bodies are working on a similar seizure of properties owned by erstwhile diamond czar Jatin Mehta and his family. Jatin Mehta is absconding since 2013 after his companies defaulted on payments due to a clutch of Indian banks amounting to a mammoth Rs. 6800 crore. Jatin Mehta along with his wife Sonia and younger son Suraj stand accused in a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier this year.
According to sources in the know, the CBI along with Enforcement Directorate (ED) has prepared a list of assets known to be owned by Jatin Mehta, Sonia Mehta and Suraj Mehta. A list of assets earlier held by the trio and later transferred in structured deals to relatives or entities on which they exercise control are also in possession of the investigative agencies. The assets include a lab-grown diamond manufacturing facility in the United States and a host of properties owned by shell companies. Erstwhile shareholdings of Sonia and Suraj Mehta in a Singapore headquartered company, later diluted in favour of family members are also believed to be in the list of over a dozen movable and immovable properties Indian investigators are contemplating for attachment. It is understood that these assets directly or indirectly under control of the accused trio are worth over Rs. 1000 crore. Another list of assets and accounts that are suspected to be proceeds of the crime vested with offshore entities in tax havens amount to Rs. 5000 crore.
The series of structured transactions through which the funds have been laundered are already in possession of the agencies. Sources in the know indicate that the exercise for attachment is likely to commence from November.
Jatin Mehta promoted entities including the listed entity Winsome had defaulted on Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) to the tune of Rs. 6100 crore in 2012. The companies had imported gold using the SBLC’S issued by a clutch of banks including the controversy-marred Punjab National Bank. The companies exported jewellery to buyers based in the Middle East. Later the company claimed that the overseas buyer was unable to make payments to Winsome Group as it suffered a billiondollar Derivates loss. Indian investigators have rubbished the business loss theory and have levelled a slew of charges against Jatin Mehta, Sonia Mehta, Suraj Mehta, Haythem Obaidi (Gulf-based buyer) and officials of banks which had provided the SBLC’S. Jatin Mehta along with his wife had acquired citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis but are believed to be holed up in a hideout somewhere in western Europe.
Before the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi case burst into the limelight, Jatin Mehta promoted Forever Jewellery was the biggest defaulter in the books of Punjab National Bank. Winsome Group is also one of the largest defaulters in books of Standard Chartered Bank. Jatin Mehta is the second largest corporate defaulter in India closely trailing the former liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Strangely the first FIR was filed against Jatin Mehta and associates in 2016, a good three years after the default. The investigators are now preparing to bring this case back on the fast track.